A 30-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly bludgeoning his 30-year-old friend to death with a brick after an argument over ₹100 to buy a bottle of alcohol in east Delhi’s Anand Vihar area, officers aware of the matter said.
After killing the victim, the suspect stole money from the victim’s pocket and, bought more alcohol and continued drinking for hours, the officers added. A person known to the suspect finally spotted him drunk on the street and called his family, who then admitted him to a de-addiction centre, from where he was finally arrested.
Police identified the victim as Nirala Sahu and the accused as Ankit Mishra. Both lived at a slum cluster in Anand Vihar and would frequently drink together, said deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara) Prashant Gautam.
While Sahu used to work in a bakery in Surya Nagar, Mishra was a daily wage labourer.
The crime came to light when a beat patrol officer in Anand Vihar spotted the body of a man covered in blood on the street. With the help of documents in the victim’s possession, police identified him as Sahu. Given the nature of the injuries on his face and upper body, a murder case was registered, and an investigation was kicked off.
During probe, police analysed CCTV footage from cameras in the area, in which Sahu was spotted with a man at 2.20am in the slum cluster of Anand Vihar. With the help of local intelligence, police identified the man accompanying Sahu as Mishra.
“A police team reached his house, but he wasn’t home. His father told us that he had admitted his son to a de-addiction centre in Loni,” DCP said.
A team then reached the de-addiction centre WHAT TIME, where Mishra was admitted and they found him still in the clothes that he was wearing at the time of committing the murder.
“There his right toe was bloodied, and clothes also has bloodstains,” said an investigator adding that he was apprehended and taken to the police station.
Mishra confessed to the murder and narrated the sequence of events to the team of cops, the investigator cited above said.
He told police that he was in the slums in Anand Vihar looking for alcohol late on Tuesday night and bumped into Sahu, who told him he had ₹500 and knew where to buy alcohol late at night.
“Sahu had ₹500 in his pocket, and the two managed to find alcohol and bought a bottle for ₹100. After they finished it together, Sahu wanted to return home,” the investigator said.
Mishra then asked Sahu for another ₹100 so he could buy another bottle and continue drinking.
When Sahu refused to give him the money, a fight broke out between them. In a fit of rage, Mishra picked up a brick and bludgeoned Sahu to death, investigators said.
“He claimed he did not know that Sahu was dead. But leaving the victim in a pool of blood, he stole ₹400 from his pocket and left to have more alcohol,” the investigator said.
One of the persons known to Mishra saw him excessively drunk on the street and alerted his family after which they took him to the de-addiction centre.
“His family wasn’t aware that he committed a murder. Seeing the blood, they thought he may have injured himself,” the investigator said.
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