Out to sell ice cream at India Gate, youth killed on Day 1 of business; man posing as customer arrested

Around 8.45 pm, a customer approached him and asked for an ice cream. But before the vendor could hand it to him, the man stabbed him thrice - on the throat, chest, and the abdomen — before fleeing the spot.

Police said a PCR call was received at 9.02 pm informing them about a "quarrel" near the India Gate.

The victim, a resident of Sangam Vihar, was found lying near his ice cream stall with multiple stab injuries.

DCP (New Delhi) Devesh Mahla said the man was rushed to the Lady Hardinge Hospital for treatment where he succumbed to his injuries.

The incident sent shockwaves among police as the murder took place in the heart of Delhi - near the C-Hexagon of India Gate - at an hour which is not considered very late.

Said the DCP, "…it was found that the man sold ice creams and had started working as a vendor on that day itself. We learnt that a person in his twenties came to his stall and stabbed him multiple times… The mobile phone of the deceased was missing. His family members were traced and questioned at length and it came on record that the victim was in a relationship with a 16-year-old girl."

A case of murder was lodged and a team under Kartavya Path Police Station SHO, Inspector Jitender, was formed. Police began electronic surveillance of mobile numbers of the girl and her relatives and also conducted raids at different places in Delhi.

Nine teams of the New Delhi district police and three teams of the special staff were deployed in an overnight operation of arresting the accused person.

CCTV cameras were also analysed but, according to a senior officer, what made the job of the police difficult was that the incident took place at a "black spot", or an area which is not under CCTV surveillance, making it difficult to capture the accused on camera while stabbing the victim.

The accused, 23-year-old Ajay, was arrested early on Thursday. During questioning, he claimed that he was in a relationship with a girl who had told him around a week ago that a man had been approaching her for marriage, said police. He said since the teenager did not want to marry him, both of them conspired to kill him.

Said an officer, "The minor girl knew that the victim had set up an ice cream stall near India Gate and would be present there on Wednesday night… The accused approached the victim on the pretext of buying an ice cream, stabbed him, and fled the spot."

The minor girl was also later apprehended by police and sent to an observation home.

The officer said that there are currently no eyewitnesses to the incident as the spot where the ice cream stall was set up was a little further away from other stalls and kiosks.

Meanwhile, the victim's father told The Indian Express that he was aware of his son's relationship with the girl. "He told us that the girl's parents had also agreed to the relationship. I asked him to arrange a meeting so that we can fix a date… I don't know what happened suddenly and why he was stabbed…" he said.