NEW DELHI: The investigation into the brazen Shahdara double murder and subsequent questioning of the juvenile perpetrator has revealed that he had been planning the attack for more than 15 days.
"The accused juvenile, who has now been apprehended, has claimed that he had been planning the murder for more than 15 days," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Prashant Gautam said.
The juvenile's interrogation revealed that the shocking murder of a 40-year-old man Akash and his 16-year-old nephew Rishabh on Diwali night was a revenge killing as the victims were avoiding him.
"He wanted Rs 70,000 and had been repeatedly calling Akash but was not getting any answers. The juvenile claimed that he committed the murder to teach Akash a lesson," the officer said.
Another officer privy to the probe said that the accused juvenile had possibly conducted reconnaisance of the place just a day before committing the crime. The claim was also seconded by the victim's family.
Akash's mother Shashi told reporters that they were getting threats for the past several days. "A day earlier, he came to our house with a packet of sweets. Since his family have an enmity with us, we avoided him," she said.
Both the juvenile and Akash had previously been involved in criminal cases. The juvenile had been booked for attempted murder while Akash was allegedly involved in multiple cases of gambling.
Akash's brother Yogesh, who lost his son Rishabh in the attack, said there was an ongoing feud between the families of his brother and the accused.
"They had an altercation over money. My brother even told me once to intervene and I went to speak to them. I too entered into an argument and there was some manhandling. The matter was later resolved at a police station," he said.
Yogesh further said that the juvenile's family had also staged a firing attack at their house and named his brother as the accused. "They were constantly threatening us. They filed fake cases of firing which were all untrue and were investigated by the police," he said.
