Dhaba employee nabbed from Punjab for killing owner, his son in Delhi

New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) Delhi Police has arrested a man from Punjab's Ferozepur for allegedly killing a roadside restaurant  owner and his eight-year-old son at their central Delhi residence, an officer said on Monday. 

Sonu Kumar (22), a resident of Bihar's Muzaffarpur, was hired by the owner of the dhaba recently.

According to police, on October 21, at 2:45 p.m a police control room call was received at Nabi Karim police station regarding the incident.

"Upon arriving at the location -- Arakashan Road -- across from the Woodland Hotel, we discovered that the dhaba was locked from inside," said a senior police officer.

"On the first floor of the dhaba, where the owner resided, we found an adult and a minor lying in a pool of blood with cut marks on their necks," said the officer.

They were identified as Anuj (35) and his son Raunak (8). The family consisted of five members: Anuj, his wife, two minor children, and Anuj's mother.

"Anuj's wife, along with her mother-in-law and daughter, had gone to Dwarka the previous night. Upon their return, they found the dhaba locked from the inside," said the officer.

During the investigation, the prime suspect turned out to be Sonu, who was hired on October 7 and was absconding after the incident.

"Sonu went missing along with the deceased Anuj's mobile phone from the scene of crime. Inquiries were conducted about the Sonu but no photograph was available.

Anju's family then informed that Sonu was not using any mobile phone," said the Deputy Commissioner of Police (central) Sanjay Kumar Sain.

CCTV installed inside the restaurant was also found missing. "It was revealed that Sonu was employed through a vegetable vendor Naresh. When Naresh was traced, he informed police that Sonu was working in a tea shop of Gagandeep in Tis Hazari court complex," said the DCP.

Gagandeep was also examined, and he provided a photograph and address of Sonu. "But here also the accused had provided an incomplete address of his native village in Bihar, " said the DCP.

"He had also provided a mobile number of his relative in Punjab. The team of special wings had obtained the last location of Anuj’s stolen phone which was in Punjab," said the DCP.

A police team was sent to Punjab to trace the absconding accused. Finally, the team succeeded in apprehending him from a barber’s shop in Ferozepur Punjab. He was brought to Delhi and interrogated extensively, said the officer.

On sustained interrogation, the accused revealed that on October 17, the owner of the restaurant had beaten him on the suspicion of an attempted theft of cash from his purse.

On the day of the incident, when other family members of the deceased were away, Anuj called Sonu and had beaten him on the issue of theft again. To avenge the humiliation, the accused slashed the throats of the dhaba owner and his son with a kitchen knife in their room," said the officer.

"He then changed his clothes and fled the scene by jumping down from the first floor of the house. He caught a train in the morning for Punjab where he was caught by a team of special wings," the officer added.

--IANS

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