As the investigations in the brutal murder of a 32-year-old e-rickshaw driver in GTB Nagar area of Northwest Delhi on Saturday evening made progress, senior police officers on Monday said that they had been able to identify one of the two students who had a verbal spat with Ravindra Kumar before he was murdered by a mob of 20 to 25 youths outside the metro station. The incident happened when Ravindra Kumar raised objections to two Delhi University students urinating on the roadside on Saturday.
Police sources on Sunday had said that based on the CCTV footage accessed from the liquor shop from where the two DU students had bought beer, police have been able to ascertain the identity of the one of the two accused students.
“On Sunday, we had approached the administration of the Kirori Mal College to ascertain the identity of the two culprits. Since the college was shut on Sunday, we have called in the faculty members of the college for questioning on Monday,” the police said.
“Approximately 900 students of the university are under police radar. Apart from that we have also sought a list of students who appeared for examinations at KMC on Saturday — 300 belong to the School of Open learning (SOl). We found out about the two students who had missed their examination on Saturday. The students seem to belong to Panipat or Sonipat in Haryana.
“We have sought help from police personnel at Maurice Nagar police station and got a list of 400 students who are often known to take part in protests. Moreover, we are suspecting that since a mob of 20 to 25 students attacked Ravindra, the group of students is affiliated with a student party,” said a senior police official privy to the investigation.
Metres away from the place of incident, neighbours and relatives of Ravindra Kumar who had gathered to console the grieving family lamented as to how Ravindra’s murder could have been easily averted. Savitri Kumari, a neighbour, remarked, “There was a police booth and a PCR van doing the rounds close to the place where Ravindra died on Saturday. Jab kuch bhi hota hai log video banane aa jate hai par jab Ravindra ko ladke peet rahe the tab koi bhi saamne nahi aaya (Whenever anything happens, people come out and make videos. However, when Ravindra was getting thrashed, not even a single person came forward to save him).”
A police officer said, “Ravindra had sustained injuries on his chest and back. He had wounds caused by pieces of bricks.”
Ravindra is survived his parents. His father was a constable in Delhi Police.
Kumar has three brothers and two sisters.