Man arrested six months after stabbing death in north Delhi

New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) Delhi Police has made one arrest six months after a 26-year-old man was fatally stabbed for resisting a pickpocketing bid by two men in north Delhi's Kotwali area, officials said on Saturday.

The accused has been identified as Azizul alias Pavva (24), a native of Darjeeling in West Bengal, police said.

“The incident came to light on April 30 when police received information from the Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital that a man with stab wounds had been admitted there. The victim, identified later as Saurabh, was referred to the LNJP Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries on May 2,” a senior police officer said.

The victim's identity could not be established immediately due to the lack of details, he said. Police examined CCTV footage from around 200 cameras, activated local informers, and traced the two suspects to Gandhi Nagar.

Their images were shown to the locals, who identified them as ‘vagabonds’ working as goods-cart pullers. Both had been missing since the day of the attack, police said.

After months of fieldwork, Azizul was arrested on November 20 during a routine check in Chandni Chowk.

During interrogation, he told police that he had been living in Delhi for the past several years, working as a labourer before taking to petty crimes to pay for his drug and alcohol addiction, the officer said.

He confessed that on April 30, he and his accomplice, Rafiq alias Rohit, tried to pickpocket a man sleeping in Gandhi Bagh. However, when the victim woke up and resisted, Rafiq attacked him with a knife while Azizul held him, the officer said.

The duo fled the spot and boarded a train to Darjeeling the next morning. While Azizul returned to Delhi recently, believing the case had gone cold, police continued to track leads and eventually arrested him, he said.

Police have launched multiple raids to arrest Rafiq, who remains absconding, and recover the murder weapon.

Azizul was previously involved in a case of motor vehicle theft registered at the Gandhi Nagar police station during his juvenile days, police said. PTI SSJ ARI