NEW DELHI: A 28-year-old graduate of the National Institute of Technology, Delhi, was arrested from Lucknow on Saturday, after he was caught on camera brutally stabbing three dogs and killing a puppy at a metro station here almost a month ago. The dog killer video that surfaced on social media platforms had earlier sparked national outrage.
Police said the accused, identified as Nakul Mishra, has been on medication for prolonged depression. He was sacked from his job, had a failed love affair and his own pet dog died recently.
Mishra’s identity was ascertained after local police conducted a door-to-door search in all localities under the jurisdiction of Hauz Khas sub-division of Delhi Police and scanned through thousands of tenant verification forms, the official said.
On March 15, locals in South Delhi’s Green Park area found three injured dogs and a dead puppy near the metro station and called police.
After the police zeroed in on Mishra, it emerged that he had left his rented room in south Delhi’s Yusuf Sarai area and shifted to his maternal aunt’s residence in east Delhi’s Mayur Vihar. He stayed there for three days and then left for his home in Lucknow.
“The Humane Society International (HSI) India had announced a reward for information leading to the identification of the perpetrator. The organisation had received a call and worked with Delhi Police to track down the accused in Lucknow. The HSI India has demanded a jail term and psychiatric intervention for the alleged dog killer,” the animal rights NGO said in a statement. “We hope that there will be a speedy trial and he will be convicted soon,” said N G Jayasimha, MD, HSI India.
Meanwhile, the House Committee of the Rajya Sabha has put out an advertisement in newspapers inviting people’s suggestions on “management of monkeys and dogs in MPs’ residential area of Delhi.”
‘His Manner Akin to that of an ultra’
According to Prof Pratap Sharan of the AIIMS psychiatry department, the dog killer’s behaviour was akin to that of a terrorist. “This is not a behaviour related to a normal disorder like clinical depression, rather it is akin to the behaviour of a terrorist. This man, after losing his pet, saw killing of other animals as his manner of revenge.”