Man stabs boss, kills himself in Kalkaji

NEW DELHI: Locked inside a room by his mother after he allegedly stabbed his employer in south Delhi’s Kalkaji on Wednesday afternoon, a 22-year-old man committed suicide by hanging in Sangam Vihar hours later, police said.

Identified only by his first name, Rohit allegedly attacked 58-year-old Premlata Gaba with a knife at her home. But the knife broke during the attack.

Gaba’s son, Praveen, suspected that the attack was an attempted robbery gone wrong. Rohit’s mother, however, alleged that he attacked Gaba on being asked to pay a large amount as interest for a few thousand rupees he had borrowed.

While Praveen denied any such financial dealing with Rohit, Chinmoy Biswal, deputy commissioner of police (south-east), said the motive behind the attack was being probed.

A native of Etah in Uttar Pradesh, Rohit lived with his wife in Sangam Vihar. His parents and four siblings live in the same neighbourhood. Biswal said Rohit had been working as a daily wager at Gaba’s auto spare parts shop in Govindpuri.

Rohit allegedly entered Gaba’s home around 11.30am on Wednesday by allegedly lying that her son had asked him to fetch a bed sheet. “As I walked inside to get the bed sheet, Rohit suddenly attacked me with a knife. I was injured in my head, but I shouted for help. He fled from the house, leaving the broken knife behind,” said Gaba in her statement to the police.

Gaba was rushed to a hospital and the local police were alerted. The police dialled Rohit’s mother and asked her to restrain him if she spotted him.

“I began searching for my son in the neighbourhood. When I spotted him around 2pm, I lured him to my home and locked him in a room. I then dialled the police,” said Rohit’s mother, Reshma Devi. “Rohit began threatening to commit suicide and I alerted the police. The police said he was making empty threats,” she added.

A few minutes later, Devi realised there was no noise from the room in which Rohit was locked. “I opened the door to check and found Rohit hanging from the ceiling fan. He had used my saree to hang himself,” said Devi.

Gaba’s son, Praveen, alleged that Rohit had entered the house to commit a robbery.