Two brothers held for killing scrap dealer, son; police claim business rivalry led to the double murder

Police on Wednesday said they had arrested two brothers and claimed to have cracked the double murders of a scrap dealer and his son, who were killed while returning from a mosque in north-east Delhi earlier this week.

Police claimed that the scrap dealer Zulfiqar Qureshi — who was also a member of the BJP’s local unit — and his son Janbaz were killed over a business rivalry.

Though investigators had to conduct multiple raids before they could nab the suspects, identified as Khalid and Tariq Ali, they had received crucial leads from 20-year-old Janbaz, who had named the assailants before succumbing to his injuries.

Armed with the identities of the suspects, the police had analysed their phone call records and location before arresting them from Nand Nagri on Tuesday evening.

Janbaz’s father, Zulfiqar, was a scrap dealer who was an active member of the BJP and also ran an NGO, besides filing right to information (RTI) applications against businesses and builders in and around his neighbourhood. According to the police, Zulfiqar had a host of criminal cases registered against him, even though he had been staying clean for the last few years. His slain son too had criminal cases, including one arrest in a motor theft case just two months ago, said Ved Prakash Surya, deputy commissioner of police (north-east).

Surya said that the arrested suspects had so far told their interrogators that they had murdered the father-son duo as they were “fed up” of Zulfiqar’s habit of filing “fake complaints” against them and harming their businesses.

This is contrary to the claims of the Qureshi family which insisted that Zulfiqar’s activism was against scrap dealers involved in sale and purchase of stolen vehicles.

Zulfiqar was shot dead by four men on Monday morning, as he was stepping out of a mosque near his home after offering morning prayers. Janbaz had tried to save him, but he too was stabbed.

The DCP said that Janbaz had named four suspects— which included another scrap dealer Naasir, who is the brother of the arrested men, Khalid and Tariq Ali.

“Their father, Rasheed, owns a scrap shop right next to Zulfiqar’s shop. They had a business rivalry. Zulfiqar would file false complaints against Rasheed, which would force him to shut his shop for prolonged periods,” said the DCP.

“Rasheed and his family tried to resolve the matter with Zulfiqar on a couple of occasions, but to no avail. Fed up with his attitude, Rasheed’s three sons and an aide carried out the double murders,” said the DCP.

While Naasir remains on the run, the police refused to identify the fourth suspect, who too is absconding.