Delhi man stabs teen girl 20 times, crushes head with stone as people watch; arrested

Sahil, the 20-year-old accused in the murder of a 16-year-old girl which was caught on camera, has been arrested. The 16-year-old girl was stabbed multiple times and then stoned to death in full public view in northwest Delhi's Shahbad Dairy area, a video of which is being widely shared, police said on Monday.

Sahil has been arrested from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, the Delhi Police said. The accused worked as a fridge and air-conditioner mechanic, police said. 

The video, widely circulating on social media, shows the accused stabbing and subsequently bludgeoning the girl to death as people walk by. Sahil was on the run since the incident. 

Police say the motive of the murder remains to be discovered and added that the body of the victim, a resident of JJ Colony in Shahbad Dairy, was found lying on the street. 

She was passing through the street when she was accosted by the accused, who stabbed her multiple times on Sunday night, a police officer said.

On Sunday, the victim planned to attend the birthday party of her friend's son but was accosted and stabbed repeatedly. She was also hit with a stone, he added.

A case under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered at Shahbad Dairy police station on the basis of the complaint lodged by the victim's father, the police added.

Dependra Pathak, Special CP, while talking to Republic said that the police will produce the accused in court and will ask for the most serious punishment. They knew each other, they might have parted ways and the accused might have held some kind of a grudge, he added. 

Suman Nalwa, Delhi Police PRO had earlier said, “Yesterday late in the evening we had received this information. Thereafter the local police SHO and all the supervisory officers, they had reached and case was registered instantaneously. Investigation is underway, there are multiple teams that are working on it. The accused has been identified and we are sure to nab the accused in a very short span of time.”

When asked about the security situation in the national capital, she said, “See it is not related to security, it is an overall socio-economic status as well as growing rage in the society, although, it is not typically a police topic but we see that there is an increasing rage in the society and the people are resorting to violence at petty issues as well. We have seen rise in road rage so I think it is all interconnected with how society is progressing.”

(With inputs from agencies)