After failed robbery bid, ‘drug addict’ stabs man; arrested

Twenty-four days after a 28-year-old share market analyst was murdered on a street in central Delhi’s Karol Bagh, police on Tuesday claimed to have solved the murder. Police said Mohammad Rehman allegedly killed Sameer Sahil to take “revenge” for thrashing him when the latter tried to rob Rehman, two days before the murder.

On March 9 around 10 pm, a man was found unconscious and bleeding on Rani Jhansi Road by a passerby, who called the police control room and reported the incident. A police team rushed the injured man to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Doctors told the police that a deep stab wound in the man’s chest proved fatal for him. The man was identified as Sameer Sahil, a resident of Bara Hindu Rao in north Delhi, with the help of some identification documents that were found in his possession. Sahil worked as a share market analyst.

Deputy commissioner of police (central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa said a murder case was registered at the DBG Road police station and investigation taken up. “It was a blind murder case because we did not find any eyewitness. Also, the motive behind the crime was not known,” said Randhawa.

The investigating team examined more than 100 local criminals but could not get any breakthrough. They activated their local intelligence network, which helped them learn that an alleged drug-addict had told some people about stabbing a man, who had thrashed him during a robbery attempt.

“The suspect was identified as Mohammad Rehman, who lived in Bara Hindu Rao area. We raided his whereabouts but couldn’t nab him. Our teams eventually caught him from Rani Jhansi Road in the early Tuesday morning,” the DCP said.

During the interrogation, DCP Randhawa said, Rehman told the police that he committed petty crimes to buy drugs. He was also found involved in two theft cases registered at the Sadar Bazar police station.

Rehman told the police that on March 7, around 8.30 pm, he was looking for a target on Rani Jhansi Road. “Sahil was walking back home from office when Rehman waylaid him and tried to rob him. Sahil resisted and started thrashing Rehman after which the latter fled,” said Randhawa.

Enraged over being beaten up, Rehman decided to take revenge on Sahil. As he knew that Sahil took the same route daily to return home, Rehman bought a knife and stabbed Sahil in his chest while he was walking back home on March 9.

“We have recovered the knife that Rehman used to kill Sahil,” said the DCP.