A dentist was allegedly murdered in the Vikaspuri area of West Delhi on Wednesday night merely because a cricket ball that he was playing with his son had grazed the wheels of a bike. The dentist was attacked by a gang of over dozen people with sticks and iron rods. The 40-year-old dentist was identified as Dr Pankaj Narang who lived with his wife also a doctor and their eight-year-old son in bungalow number B-60 of the Vikaspuri area.
The Delhi Police has arrested five people — including a middle-aged woman on the charges of murder — and detained four juveniles. All the accused persons are residents of JJ Colony Indira Camp just 150 metres away from the doctor’s residence.
The provocation for the brutal murder of the dentist was a cricket ball that had rebounded after hitting the tyre of a bike of the accused. Dr Narang was playing cricket with his son and a nephew in their bungalow’s passageway outside his house after India’s nail biting win against Bangladesh on Wednesday night, said a police official of West Delhi.
While playing cricket, the ball allegedly hit two men who were passing by on the
bike, triggering a heated argument between the doctor and the duo. After the argument, the duo left the spot, abandoning their scooty there and returned within no time with others armed with sticks and rods.
It has been revealed that four to five people held Dr Narang and others hit Narang with bats, sticks and rods. They allegedly assaulted everyone whoever tried to save him. Narnag’s brother-in-law, identified as Vikas Sethi, who tried to intervene, was also thrashed severely by the attackers, the police official said.
locals informed the police around 12.45 am but the accused fled the spot by the time a police team reached there.
The doctor and his brother-in-law were rushed to Mata Chanan Devi hospital, where Dr Narang succumbed to his injuries. Doctors told police that Narang received a deep wound on his Cranium, the part of the skull enclosing the brain.
Dr Narang ran a dental clinic in West Delhi, few kilometres away from his place in Dhauli Peau. His sister, brother-in-law and their son had come to his place for Holi celebrations.
“We registered a case of murder, attempt to murder, house trespass and rioting against several persons, and formed a team to nab all the accused at the earliest. We also obtained CCTV footage from nearby premises which helped us ascertaining identity of the accused,” DCP (West) Pushpendra Kumar said.
After a search operation, eight people were apprehended on Thursday, of whom four including the bike-borne minor who was with Naseer turned out to be juvenile. Naseer and the three other youths -- Amir, Ameer and Gopal, all aged around 20 years, were arrested.
On Friday, the police arrested Naseer’s mother Maesar who was seen in the CCTV grab allegedly attacking the doctor with her son and others. Further interrogation revealed that Maesar allegedly instigated the violence, provoking his son to beat up the doctor, the police official said, adding two more persons have been identified but they are absconding. Meanwhile, police have provided security to the doctor’s family and several officials were deployed outside his residence on Friday. Investigation into the case is underway and efforts are on to nab the other accused at the earliest, police added.