The Delhi Police has arrested a 22-year-old man in connection with the brutal attack on a 45-year-old freelance journalist while she was out for a stroll in a public park near her house in north-west Delhi’s Ashok Vihar area on Wednesday evening.
Aparna Kalra was walking in the DDA park just 100 metres from her house when she was hit by Sanjay, an alcoholic and a drug addict who was besotted with her.
“The accused told us that he was infatuated by Aparna Kalra. He had been watching her come to the Picnic Hut Park for many weeks and was besotted by her. On the day of the attack, on seeing Aparna coming to the park, Sanjay went up to her and tried to talk to her,” said police sources.
The police said that the accused was drunk at the time of the attack.
Sanjay told the police that on Wednesday evening, after having booze in the bushes close to the walking track, he approached Aparna in a bid to befriend her. “However, the woman ignored Sanjay who was reeking of alcohol, and started walking ahead. Enraged by this, Sanjay took a big stone and hit her on the head repeatedly from the back,” said a senior investigator.
Praising the police for solving the case within 24 hours, Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik tweeted, “Was highly concerned about the assault case on our media friend Ms Kalra. I congratulate NW District team for quickly solving this blind case (sic).”
Rajesh Khurana, Joint Commissioner of Police (Northern Range), said that Sanjay, a school drop out, used to work at a nail polish factory. “Sanjay used to live in the Sawan Park jhuggis and often used to come to the Picnic Hut to drink and take drugs,” said Khurana.
In the aftermath of the attack on Aparna, who is undergoing treatment at the Fortis Hospital in Shalimar Bagh, several teams of local police on Thursday visited the park to investigate the crime.
“One of the teams questioned the people who frequent the park in the evenings. A couple of men and two minor children informed the police that they had seen Sanjay leaving the park in a panic. However, as he was in a highly intoxicated state, they did not suspect that Sanjay could be the attacker as a lot of vagabonds and squatters crowd the DDA park in the evening daily to have drugs and alcohol,” said one of the investigating officers.
Meanwhile, the family of Aparna said that her condition is stable and she is likely to improve in the coming days. “Aparna is recuperating in the Intensive Care Unit. She has regained consciousness and is talking to the family,” said a relative of Aparna.