The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Man kills father, blows up cylinder in suicide attempt; 11 cops injured
AN EX-MERCHANT navy sailor, who was recently dismissed from service, allegedly murdered his father by slitting his throat before trying to take his own life by setting off an LPG cylinder explosion, leaving 11 policemen injured, in east Delhi’s Patparganj area on Sunday afternoon, police said. The incident has been caught on CCTV cameras installed inside the building.
“The deceased, identified as R P Matta, a retired finance sector employee, had recently come back from Canada, and had disowned his son Rahul. He had also got his son banned from entering the society where he lived,” said Omvir Bishnoi, DCP (east). He was staying in the flat with his wife Renu Matta, he said.
The retired couple had disowned their son, who has a criminal history and was arrested for molesting a woman in east Delhi last year, Bishnoi added.
“We received a PCR call around 2.30 pm and the police immediately reached the couple’s fourth floor house in Ajanta Apartments, seeing which Rahul locked himself up in the kitchen and set the cooking gas cylinder on fire. The cylinder exploded and injured 11 policemen, Rahul and the couple’s neighbours, police said.
“Among the injured are four sub-inspectors who sustained 30-40 per cent burn injuries and two assistant sub-inspectors (ASI) who sustained 25 per cent burns. Rahul sustained burn injuries as well. Three police personnel also sustained stab wounds,” he said.
Police said the tension in the family began nine months ago when Rahul married a divorcee with two children. “The victim, R P Matta, objected to the marriage and asked his son to leave home. Around 15 days ago, he made his property will and kept his son out of it. The father even published a notice in a newspaper announcing that he has disowned his son,” said a senior police officer privy to the case, adding that he had also lodged a complaint against his son at the Madhu Vihar police station for creating ruckus. Soon after, Rahul was arrested under Section 107/51 of the IPC, police said.
On Sunday afternoon at 2.15 pm, Rahul — who was carrying a sharp-edged weapon — reached Ajanta Apartments and asked the security guards to open the gate.
When they refused, he entered into an argument with them. The guards informed the secretary of the building about it. The secretary, J L Gupta, and some other residents of the building came downstairs to ward him off but ended up striking a heated argument.
“Some residents called R P Matta. Seeing his father, Rahul got agitated and attacked him. He stabbed him more than 10 times inside the guards’ room. He then barged inside the society, towards his home, after injuring a security guard. One of their neighbours, Renubansal(51),triedtostophim but he stabbed her too and rushed upstairs,” police said.
Rahul’s mother was not at home at the time.
Rahul then barged into a neighbour’s house. The neighbour, V K Sharma, who lives on the third floor of the building with his wife and son, said, “I was watching TV when he forcefully entered my home. I had a close shave with death. When we heard the commotion, my son ran down to check. Rahul entered and said he had killed his father. He told me, ‘I love you uncle and I don’t want to harm you’. He directed me to go inside the toilet and stay there. But I went into an adjacent room that had a balcony and locked myself there,” V K Sharma said.
Meanwhile, a police team reached Ajanta Apartments, seeing which Rahul locked himself up inside Sharma’s kitchen. “The police personnel tried to open the door, but he suddenly lit a match, setting the house on fire. The cylinder exploded, injuring 11 policemen, Rahul and his neighbours. Despite their injuries, police officers overpowered him. Sharma’s house is completely gutted and all the occupants were injured,” the officer said.