NEW DELHI: A dentist was battered to death outside his house in the national capital’s Vikaspuri area by at least 15 men over an altercation late Wednesday night, the eve of Holi. Police have arrested five people and detained four minors, who were allegedly involved in the murder.
“We are still looking for a few more who were involved,” said Pushpendra Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police. A youth named Naseer and three others named Amir, Ameer and Gopal, all aged around 20 years, were arrested. The police also arrested Naseer’s mother Maesar on Friday.
The incident happened around 11.30 pm on Wednesday when Pankaj Narang, 40, was playing cricket with his eight-year-old son on his balcony. “After the India-Bangladesh cricket match got over, Pankaj and his son went to their balcony and started playing cricket there,” said Naveen, Narang’s neighbour.
“As Pankaj hit the ball, it fell over the balcony’s railing and bounced off onto the road just outside his house. His son went downstairs to collect the ball,” Naveen added. While the child was looking for the ball, three scooter-borne youths, allegedly riding in an inebriated state, rode past the six-year-old. This prompted the dentist to shout at them, asking that they “drive carefully’’. “The three scooter-riders were drunk and took offence to Pankaj’s words. They immediately stopped their scooter and walked up to the house to confront him,” Naveen said. Following this, the two parties had a heated exchange. The three youths asked Pankaj to “wait for a few minutes” and left. After around 15 minutes, the three young men returned with a group of at least 15 people, armed with cricket stumps, hockey sticks, iron rods and baseball bats.
“As the mob reached Narang’s house, they challenged him to come outside. They started pelting stones at the house, breaking its window panes, flower pots and denting the doors,” Naveen said.
Seeing the situation get out of hand, Narang came out of his house to handle the situation. “He, being a gentleman, was confident that all that was needed were a few soothing words and perhaps an apology,” Naveen said. However, the move appears to have backfired. The moment Narang stepped out of the house, a man hit him on his head with a cricket stump, knocking him down.
“He fell unconscious on the courtyard of his house,” said Naveen. After that, blows rained down on the unconscious dentist. Narang’s brother-in-law, who was visiting for Holi, rushed to his rescue. He was injured in the attack too.
“After beating the two men, most of the people went back to where they came from. Some stayed back,” Naveen said. Meanwhile, the police arrived and caught five attackers who were still at the spot.