Three members of Sikh community fatally stabbed in street fight
THREE men have been stabbed to death in a “bloodbath” street brawl which involved members from the Sikh community.
The victims were named locally by family and friends as Narinder Singh, 26, Harinder Kumar, 22, and Baljit Singh, 34. They are thought to have been construction workers from India.
Witnesses have described the “horrific” aftermath of a fight in Ilford, east London, on Sunday evening. All involved were reported to be from the
Sikh and hindu communities and it is understood that the violence spilled out from a nearby event after tensions had risen following a row the previous day, according to The Times.
Jasbal Singh, Narinder Singh’s brother, told the Evening Standard that he rushed to the scene the moment he heard about the incident, where he found his mortally wounded brother.
“There was blood everywhere. I shouted, ‘Wake up, wake up!’ but it was no good. I had lost him,” he said.
He added that his heart was broken after losing “not only my brother but a best friend”. Louis O’donoghoe, a 40-year-old scaffolder, was watching TV when he heard screaming and shouting outside his house.
“It was just chaos, absolute chaos. It was like something out of a movie, horrific,” Mr O’donoghoe said.
“I could see it all: one [body] to the left, two at the bottom of the stairs. It was pretty horrific, really. I’ve never seen anything like it, to be honest.”
Police responded to reports of a disturbance in Elmstead Road, Seven Kings, on Sunday at 7.38pm.
All three men were pronounced dead at the scene, the Metropolitan
Police said. Two men, aged 29 and 39, have been arrested on suspicion of murder. Detective Chief Inspector Paul Considine, leading the investigation, said: “At this early stage, I do not believe this was gang or race-related. But I believe there may have been an ongoing dispute between those involved. We believe the five men were involved in an altercation the previous evening at Krystel Banqueting.
“I would encourage anyone in the local communities who knows what the motivation for this attack was, or to anyone who may have seen an altercation late on Saturday evening at Krystel
Banqueting, or the incident itself on Salisbury Road, to contact us.”
Formal identification and post mortem examinations of the victims are yet to take place.
♦ A 15-year-old boy stabbed in Birmingham yesterday is the latest victim of Britain’s knife crime epidemic. The schoolboy suffered multiple wounds after being attacked in Sparkbrook just before 3pm. It happened just as a 14-year-old boy was knifed in the back in Handbridge, near Chester, Cheshire.
Both victims were rushed to hospital with serious injuries.