The Hindu : New Delhi News : Double tragedy in Kalkaji

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Double tragedy in Kalkaji

Staff Reporter

Scuffle culminates in death of childhood friends

- PHOTO: Sushil Kumar Verma

Tragedy: Inconsolable family members of Ashwini Tank (left, file photo) who allegedly stabbed his friend Satwinder Singh to death and fatally fell from a building in a bid to escape at Kalkaji in New Delhi on Friday.

NEW DELHI: A scuffle between two business partners and childhood friends culminated in a double tragedy at Kalkaj here on Friday when one of them allegedly stabbed the other to death and met with a similar fate soon after when he fell from the terrace of a multi-storey building while trying to escape.

The police said the reason for the scuffle was not clear.

The tragic incident took place around noon when Ashwini Tank, a 34-year-old resident of Rampuri in Kalkaji, reached the DDA flat of his 37-year-old business partner and friend Satwinder Singh and an altercation broke out between them apparently over some business matter.

A few minutes later Satwinder’s father Bakshi Ram, who stays on the first floor of the same building, heard his son screaming for help and rushed upstairs.

“I had climbed a few steps when I saw Satwinder lumbering down with a knife stuck in his stomach. He was holding the knife with one hand and was bleeding profusely. I helped him down and took him to Majeedia Hospital with one of his friends in the neighbourhood,” said Bakshi Ram, father of Satwinder Singh, sitting among mourners outside his house.

He claimed that he did not know that Ashwini was also present in the building.

“It was only after reaching the hospital that Satwinder told his friend that he had been stabbed by Ashwini and that he had locked him up in the flat. Satwinder later succumbed to injuries,” he added.

When Satwinder’s family came to know that Ashwini was in the flat, they informed the police and soon neighbours and relatives also reached the spot. “When Ashwini saw the police and neighbours gathering in the street below, he climbed on to the roof of the third floor and tried to jump over to another building on the back lane. But he fell on the ground and was seriously injured. When the police opened the door of the flat, they did not find anyone inside. While they were looking for Ashwini, they noticed a man lying in a pool of blood in the street. He was identified as Ashwini and was declared brought dead at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences,” said Mr. Bakshi Ram. He denied any knowledge of a dispute between the two friends. The two ran a housekeeping business.

Satwinder’s wife was away at work in Gurgaon when the murder took place.

Ashwini’s father Gaje Singh, a retired railway police employee, said: “We came to know about the incident when the police came to our house in the afternoon for address verification. Both Satwinder and Ashwini were close friends and we never heard of any differences between them. Even the two families know each other. Since the two are no more, it remains a mystery as to what led to the scuffle between them.”

Ashwini, who also sustained stab injuries during the scuffle, is survived by his wife and two daughters aged five and three.

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