In a blood-curdling incident in Delhi’s Burari area on Tuesday, a 34-year-old man stabbed a 21-year-old woman 26 times in broad daylight with a knife. The horrifying incident that was caught on a CCTV camera shows yet again apathy and reluctance of the public to get involved. In the CCTV footage, a few people could be seen passing by but nobody tried to intervene and restrain the accused, Surender Singh, from stabbing the girl repeatedly.
The victim, Karuna Kumar, who lived with his family in Sant Nagar area in Burari, worked as a teacher at Novel Riches School. She was walking with her cousin Neha when the stalker, Surender, attacked her with a knife near labour Chowk in Burari on Tuesday around 9 am, police said.
Karuna was rushed to Sushrut Trauma Centre in Civil lines where she was declared brought dead.
Karuna’s family alleged that Surender had been stalking her for years. They had even lodged a complaint six months back against him. After Surender’s father, who is a retired Delhi Police Sub-Inspector, came and apologised, a compromise was reached between the families, they said.
After CCTV footage of the frenzied stabbing was aired by the media, the Centre sought report from the Delhi Police. “We have sought a fact report from Delhi Police Commissioner over the incident. Whatever happened is very sad,” Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju
told reporters.
In the CCTV footage, it is seen that the accused came on a bike and hurriedly got down before stabbing the girl who staggered and fell down as she tried to save herself.
“The initial stabs were made on the girl’s chest after which she collapsed on the ground. The accused went on hurling abuses and stabbing till Karuna became unconscious,” said a police official.
The brutal attack did not stop there as Surender kept on stabbing the helpless girl like a maniac even as some petrified passersby watched helplessly. However, later some among them mustered courage and caught Surender, but by then he had already inflicted fatal injuries on Karuna. They beat him up before handing him over to the police.
Police said, “Surender was taken to Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital with head injuries but later shifted to lNJP Hospital.” Surender is a resident of Rohini. He has two children and is fighting a divorce case with his wife in a Delhi court.
Karuna’s father Naresh Kumar runs a bag shop and her mother Ram Beti is a housewife. Karuna has two brothers Manish and Himanshu.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, North district, Madhur Verma said, “A murder case under Section 302 was registered at the Burari Police station and the accused was arrested. We have recovered the weapon used in the commission of crime. Further investigations are on.”
Sources in the police said that the two knew each other since a year. “Surender used to work in a mobile shop in Burari which was next to the bag shop of Karuna’s father. During this time, they started liking each other. They had also planned to marry after the former’s divorce.”
They further said Surender told the police during interrogation that he had murdered her after he saw some pictures of the girl with another guy. The accused said he had received the pictures from his friend, they added.
Family members and locals staged a protest outside Sushruta Trauma Centre regarding the heinous incident leading to a huge traffic jam in the area.
Karuna’s mother Ram Beti told The Pioneer that she used to take my blessings before leaving home for her job. “We could not go to drop her as I and my husband were in Agra as one of our relatives had expired. We have come back today morning just to hear such news. She got a job as a teacher a month ago and it was her dream to be a teacher. She has forever gone away from me. I have lost the will to live,” said Ram Beti sobbing.
Meanwhile, Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia expressed shock over the gruesome incident while hitting out at the Delhi Police, saying instead of “harassing” AAP legislators the force should focus on security of people. “Shocking incident in Delhi of stabbing of 21-yr old woman. Delhi Police needs to focus on citizen’s security than harassing AAP MlAs,” he tweeted.