Delhi stabbing: Man kills sanitation worker over wife’s calls with another man; held

A 52-year-old man who was allegedly heavily drunk and angry over his wife's daily phone calls with another person was behind the MCD sanitation worker's stabbing in east Delhi's Kalyanpuri, police said on Monday.

The accused, Nihal, was arrested from beneath a flyover near the Ghazipur border area, they said.

Nihal's primary target was the man his wife allegedly spoke to on the phone -- Gulshan -- but found Anil (27), a sanitation worker, collecting garbage in Kalyanpuri around 8.15 am on Sunday and stabbed him with a knife. Anil and Gulshan were friends, they said.

"Nihal did not like that Gulshan used to talk to his wife every day. He had even warned Anil to tell Gulshan to stop talking to his wife, but both continued to talk on the phone," Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Rajeev Kumar said.

This had been weighing on Nihal for some time and he became increasingly frustrated over the issue. On Sunday morning, after consuming excessive alcohol, Nihal allegedly left his house and went to look for Gulshan, the DCP said.

Gulshan, however, was not present at the spot. Nihal knew Anil and spotted him standing near a van belonging to Gulshan. "He called Anil towards him. A verbal spat ensued between the two," the DCP said.

Nihal, then, allegedly took out a knife and stabbed Anil in the abdomen and fled from the spot.

The alleged attack was captured on CCTV cameras. A video of the incident that later went viral on social media platforms, showed a man wearing a yellow T-shirt approaching Anil following a brief verbal exchange and purportedly stabbing him.

The sudden knife attack left Anil seriously injured. He collapsed and subsequently taken to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital in a critical condition but was declared dead on arrival by doctors, police said.

Investigators examined more than 200 CCTV recordings from the area and along the possible escape route of the accused. The footage helped police track Nihal's movements and zero in on his location near the Ghazipur border, the DCP said.

Police are now questioning Nihal to establish the sequence of events leading up to the murder and to collect more evidence related to the case.

The killing sparked anger among sanitation workers and auto-tipper drivers from different parts of Delhi, who gathered at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital on Monday and held a protest.

The protesters demanded Rs 1 crore compensation for Anil's family and a permanent government job for one of his family members. They also raised concerns over the safety of sanitation workers who work on roads and in residential areas, often during early morning hours.