I6 Year-Old Boy Stabs Minor 50 Times For Refusing To Give Him Hard Drugs; Involves In Murder, Robbery Case Before; Lands In Juvenile Centre

By Babatunde Solanke

Police authourities in India on Thursday said that a 16-year-old, who stabbed another minor boy over 50 times and dragged the body through a dingy street in north-east Delhi’s Janta Mazdoor Colony on Tuesday night, was involved in a murder case earlier as well.

Officials investigating the murder, which was caught on CCTV camera, said the police will request the court to consider the case as ‘rarest of the rare’, given the gravity of the offence. The accused, who was apprehended on Wednesday and sent to a juvenile home, told the police that the victim had approached him for drugs.

“The duo did not know each other, but both of them were drug addicts and had spent some time at rehab centres in the past. When the victim approached him for drugs, the accused assumed that the boy was carrying money and attacked him in a bid to rob him,” said an official.

According to DCP (North East) Joy Tirkey, the 17-year-old victim was on his way home around 10.15 p.m. when the incident took place. “The accused first strangled the victim and then stabbed him multiple times. He then rummaged through the victim’s pockets and stole ₹350.”

CCTV footage, which has surfaced on social media, shows the accused dragging his victim to a narrow lane while the latter lay unconscious. He then stabs the victim in the face, ears, and neck multiple times. At one point he is seen lifting his arms and dancing next to the body. The police said the accused was in an inebriated state.

Habitual offender

“He was involved in a murder and robbery case around a year and a half ago. It appears he knows he will get away with lighter punishment since he is a juvenile. We will appeal to the court to try him as an adult,” an officer said. According to the police, the 16-year-old describes himself as a “gangster” on his Instagram profile.

“His username has the number ‘302’, which also denotes Section 302 of the IPC (for murder), pointing towards possible intention of committing murders,” the officer added.

The police were informed about the crime by residents who spotted the body lying in a pool of blood. He was rushed to GTB Hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.

The victim’s 22-year-old brother, who works at an embroidery shop, said the family last spoke to the deceased on Tuesday afternoon. “We waited for him to come home the entire night and got a call from the police on Wednesday morning. I went to the hospital for identification but his face was completely disfigured,” the brother said, adding that he identified his brother’s body from a tattoo on the hand.

One of the officials probing the case said the knife used in committing the crime was found in the victim’s pocket. However, the victim’s brother said, “If my brother was carrying a knife, he would have done something in self-defence.”

Fearing that the accused may soon get bail as he is a minor, the brother said, “He will come out and kill more people.”