2 arrested for murder of dance instructor

NEW DELHI: Nine days after a 20-year-old dance instructor was shot dead while dancing at a religious function in central Delhi’s Mandir Marg, police on Friday arrested two men for their role in the crime.

Confirming the arrests, deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi), Madhur Verma, said the arrested men – identified as 22-year-old Rishabh and his cousin, 21-year-old Chaitanya alias Raja Chauhan – told the police that they were enraged because the victim, Avinash Sangwan, had made fun of Rishabh’s dance moves and defeated him in the dance competition.

Police said more than 1,000 people were questioned and around 50 slum clusters across the city to identify and nab the accused, who were seen dancing during the Valmiki Jayanti celebrations in a couple of videos. In one of the videos, Sangwan is seen sustaining a gunshot wound in his chest while dancing and his friends removing his shirt. In the same video, a man – later identified as Rishabh – is seen tucking something into his trousers, police said.

The arrested duo told police that they had arrived at the Valmiki Temple in Mandir Marg to celebrate Valmiki Jayanti with his friends. During the dance competition, Rishabh got into an argument with Sangwan over the former’s “vulgar dance moves”.

“When Sangwan defeated him in the competition, Rishabh got annoyed and took Chauhan’s pisto and shot Sangwan. Immediately after, the two fled,” Verma said.

Verma maintained that they minutely watched the video and zeroed in on the man who was seen tucking something in his trouser. “We visited all those jhuggi clusters and residential colonies where people from the Valmiki community live. After questioning around 1,000 such men, we found our prime suspect and nabbed him. His questioning led to Chauhan’s arrest,” Verma said.

Maintaining that they are yet to recover the pistol used in the crime, police said Chauhan has told them that a kanwariya had given him the pistol during the kanwar yatra this year.