The Hindu : New Delhi News : Homeless people protest against murder of man sleeping on footpath

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Friday, Jun 17, 2011
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New Delhi

Homeless people protest against murder of man sleeping on footpath

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Homeless people staged a protest near Hanuman Mandir on Baba Khadak Singh Marg here on Wednesday night after a 25-year-old man sleeping on the footpath was stabbed to death, and his wife seriously injured, allegedly by drug addicts.

The police have arrested the five accused.

The incident took place when Tatia, his 20-year-old wife Lachhi and her daughter were sleeping on the footpath opposite Rivoli Cinema.

Raju Gulati, a relative of Tatia and the complainant in the case, alleged that one Rohit and his friends Vijay, Dhanjit, Vinod and Bobby, reached there around 10.30 p.m. Three of them were allegedly armed with knives.

The accused enquired about the person who had supplied soil instead of smack to Vijay and had later attacked him, injured in the head.

When Tatia asked them to leave saying that he did not know who the person was, Rohit allegedly stabbed him in the stomach. The other accused injured his wife and Raju's son.

While the assailants fled from the spot, the victims were taken to Lohia Hospital where Tatia was declared dead on arrival.

Relatives and friends of the victim shouted slogans and pelted stones at the police demanding action against the culprits.

“The incident reveals that rampant sale of smack among the vagabonds loitering about in the area,” said a police officer.

Another version of the incident is that the assailants had come there asking for Rahul's brother and attacked Tatia and his wife the moment they spotted them. Rahul is one of the young rag-pickers who prevented a bomb from going off at Regal Cinema in Connaught Place in 2008.

Rahul is now under protection from the government.

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