Ragpicker sleeping on footpath stabbed to death

A homeless ragpicker sleeping on the footpath was fatally stabbed in sleep in eastern Bengaluru around 3 am on Friday, police said.

Rizwan N, 35, fought with his friends around 11.30 pm on Thursday and went to bed. He usually slept on a footpath on Govindpur Main Road, KG Halli, as his family had deserted him due to his chronic alcoholism. Hours after the fight, a gang arrived at the footpath and attacked him. He bled profusely and was taken to hospital, but doctors declared him brought dead.

Police have picked up one of the suspected assailants and are questioning him about the motive for the murder. “The assailants were known to him. We are reviewing the CCTV footage to trace all of them,” a senior police officer said.

Rizwan’s body was handed over to his family after the post-mortem. His mother has filed a police complaint. Rizwan picked rags at night and ran a small shop during the day to make ends meet, according to the police.