Taking serious note of the murder of Akha Salouni, a Manipuri youth in the national Capital, the Centre on Tuesday announced the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) South district to probe the murder. Minister of State for Home, Kiren Rijiju termed the murder as ‘shocking and unfortunate’ while replying in lok Sabha on Tuesday. In a related development the Metropolitan Magistrate Ashok Kumar sent the three accused Shakti Basoya (21), his cousin Sanjay Basoya (24) and Rajiv (25) to police custody till July 24 while allowing Delhi Police to interrogate them.
Making a statement in lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju termed as “shocking and unfortunate” the death of the youth. “A Special Investigation Team under the supervision of DCP, South District, has been constituted and investigation of the case is in progress,” Rijiju said. The Minister said during investigation conducted in this incident, the Delhi Police examined eye-witnesses Dihe Kazhiihrri and Nagendra Sharma and CCTV footage was also obtained.
Quoting the statement given by Dihe Kazhiihrri, the Minister said the incident occurred when Salouni, Kazhiihrri and Sharma were returning to his house in a TSR (an autorickshaw) from Masoodpur, Vasant Kunj. “They left the TSR on the main road and began to walk towards his house. 5-6 people in a car stopped them near the junction of Gurudwara Road and Nehru Road and picked up a quarrel over the issue of giving passage and thereafter assaulted them,” the Minister said. He said Kazhiihrri and Sharma ran away from the spot, whereas the alleged persons assaulted Salouni brutally.
Delhi Police has registered a case under sections 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which deals murder and with section 3 of SC/ST Act at Kotla Mubarakpur Police Station. The Delhi police also arrested the fourth accused in the case identified as Azad Choudhary (24) who works as a car driver. All the four arrested are residents of Garhi area. Two other accused who have been identified as Bhola and lokesh have also been detained by the police.
Meanwhile, the investigators also told the court that a piece of cloth which was used in the crime was yet to be recovered. The Investigating Officer (IO) told the court the assault was captured on CCTV cameras installed in the South Delhi’s Kotla Mubarakpur area which showed one of the men wrapping a cloth around victim Akha Salouni’s neck and swinging him in the air. They also said the youths then pinned the victim down and rained blows and kicks on him.