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THREE men who were stabbed to death in a street brawl were builders who became embroiled in a drunken row over unpaid work which turned violent.
Harinder Kumar, 22, Narinder Singh, 26, and Baljit Singh, 34, were found covered in blood near a railway station in east London on Sunday evening.
One was stabbed in the neck, shoulder and chest, while another had been hit in the head with a hammer.
Witnesses heard one of the men shouting, ‘They killed me, help me!’ as they lay dying in the street. A local businessman said a fight broke out after a large group of men spilled out of an Indian restaurant having spent the afternoon drinking whisky and discussing a construction job.
Another onlooker said he saw one of the attackers fleeing the scene with a bloodstained knife in his hand before police handcuffed another man who appeared to have a cricket bat.
He added: ‘As I was coming up the road I saw these two guys running away, they ran right
Third victim: Baljit Singh past me. Then I saw the three guys bleeding out on the ground, but they were still alive, still moving, just about breathing and groaning in pain.
‘One had a huge wound in the side of his chest, there was just so much blood that had spilled out on to the pavement. It was just everywhere.
‘I could see the other guys at the other end of the road still with a knife that had red on it. I was one of the first people to find them and the police turned up pretty quickly after.’
Police said the men were from the Sikh and Hindu communities. Two men, aged 29 and 39, were arrested on suspicion of murder yesterday.
Jasbal Singh, Narinder’s brother, said he rushed to the scene near Seven Kings station in Ilford just after 7.30pm and pleaded with his dying brother to ‘wake up’.
‘I went there and just saw him laying there,’ he added. ‘There was blood everywhere.
‘I shouted “wake up, wake up” but it was no good. I had lost him. He was a great brother and a popular guy with no enemies. I am devastated.’
Mr Singh added that Mr Kumar had been a close friend and housemate.
‘I have lost not only my brother but a best friend I lived with. I don’t know how this could have happened. We were so close, my heart is broken,’ he said.
Mr Kumar’s cousin said he had been living in Britain for three years and normally drank and socialised with friends on a Sunday.
‘I’ve heard that they got into a row over money,’ he said. ‘Some of the family got a call on Sunday evening saying Harinder had been attacked.
‘They rushed down there but couldn’t get close as the police had sealed the area off.
‘They were screaming and shouting his name but the police were holding them back. It’s heartbreaking what we are all going through.’
Detectives said they were keeping an open mind about the motive for the killings, but they believe the victims were all known to each other.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Considine, of Scotland Yard, said the victims and two other men had been involved in another altercation the previous evening at a different restaurant.
He added: ‘We now believe all those involved were known to each other and from the Sikh and Hindu community.
‘However, we are still in the process of identifying the men and working to inform their next of kin.’
‘Great guy with no enemies’