Suspected phone thief tied to tree, beaten to death in West Delhi

NEW DELHI: A 23-year-old man, suspected to be a cellphone thief, died after being allegedly tied to a tree and beaten up with sticks and iron rods in a public park by four men in west Delhi’s Naraina on Friday, the police said.

All the four alleged killers were arrested on Friday. The sticks and iron rods used in the crime were also recovered from them, senior police officials associated with the case said on Saturday.

The park where the murder took place is located behind a police post at Loha Mandi in Naraina. The dead man had been involved in nearly a dozen petty crimes and arrested at least thrice. He had come out of jail just ten days ago, his family members said.

The police control room received a call around 6am about the incident at a municipal park in Loha Mandi on Friday, deputy commissioner of police (west) Deepak Purohit said. He added that a team from the Naraina police station reached there and found a man lying under a tree with injuries. A coconut fibre rope and a white muffler were also found on the crime scene, suggesting that the man was tie to a tree.

Shesh Kumar, a washerman who is a witness to the crime, told police that he saw his four neighbours assaulting the man and taking him to the park early morning, Purohit said. Kumar told officials that the four men tied the victim to a tree and beat him up with sticks and iron rods, according to Purohit. Kumar lives near the park.

“Kumar tried to intervene and requested them to release the injured person. But they did not pay heed to his request and said the man and his associates had stolen a mobile phone from a truck. Since his associates ran away with the mobile phone, they said they would not spare him,” Purohit said, quoting Kumar’s statement.

The four men --- identified as Mushtaq Ahmed, his brother Shiraj Ahmed, Anish and Ishtihar (all residents of Loha Mandi) --- fled the crime scene after the condition of the victim deteriorated. They work as loaders in Loha Mandi.

Police identified the victim as Rahul, alias Dhancha, a 23-yearold resident of Jawahar Camp in Kirti Nagar. The police took him to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead. His body was later shifted to Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital, where the autopsy was conducted on Saturday.

The suspects were soon arrested from Loha Mandi itself. They said Rahul and his associates had stolen Shiraj’s cellphone from his truck. While they caught hold of Rahul, his associates escaped with the stolen phone.