B’day gift for robber’s wife led to murder

NEW DELHI: A desperate quest for money to buy a birthday present led to a robbery-cum-murder in Govindpuri where a 24-year-old civil engineering student was stabbed to death in a park two days ago by four people, the police said on Monday.

Deputy commissioner of police (south east) Chinmoy Biswal said that all four accused have been arrested. They revealed that one of them wanted to buy a present for his wife’s birthday, which was on the same day the crime was committed.

“We have arrested four men identified as Surender, Sanjay, Pawan Kumar and Ram Babu. Surender, along with other three accomplices, planned a robbery to buy a gift for his wife during which the murder took place,” said Biswal.

“Surender and Sanjay have been previously involved in robberies and were aware that they could find vulnerable people in the park. They convinced Kumar and Babu to join them as the duo wanted to enter the crime world to make quick money,” said Biswal.

Biswal said all the accused kept a watch at the forested area in the monkey park from Tughlaqabad Fort and decided to target Naresh and his 21-year-old female friend when they were entering the park.

“The accused had knives and they all descended from the fort walls towards the jungle where they found the victims. They demanded their wallets, mobiles and the woman’s jewellery. When Naresh refused to hand over the articles and resisted, one of the assailants stabbed him in the chest,” said Biswal, adding that the four men then decamped with all the articles.