Man beaten to death over fracas with woman

A 25-year-old man was thrashed to death with iron rods by eight to 10 persons at northeast Delhi’s Nand Nagri on Thursday night

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The victim’s brother, who was by his side at the time of the crime, was also thrashed by them.

He is undergoing treatment at a hospital for multiple injuries.

Relatives of the victims have accused a neighbourhood woman Monisha alias Monu of plotting the attack and then calling her male friends to carry out the assault following a heated exchange. While two of the suspects have been detained, the woman and five others are still on the run.

The victims Mohammad Quayyum and Mohammad Imran, both plumbers, were allegedly sitting outside their house at B-Block in Nand Nagri on Thursday night when Monu entered into a heated exchange with them.

When she was unable to argue with them, she called up some friends who arrived there within minutes loaded with a pistol, iron rods and sticks.

“They began thrashing the two brothers with iron rods. When the two ran inside their house to save themselves, they followed them inside and kept beating them in front of family members even after both had lost consciousness,” said a senior police officer.

Hearing their screams for help, several neighbours arrived at the house. This forced the assailants to abandon the attack and they fled.

The duo was rushed to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital where Quayyum was declared dead. Imran is undergoing treatment and his condition is said to be stable.

A case of murder and attempt to murder was registered at Nand Nagri against the accused and a hunt launched in Delhi and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

Two persons have been detained for questioning. The accused who have been identified so far are Monu and her three friends Dipak, Ashwani and Sunil.

The officer said though the victim’s family complained about the accused carrying a pistol with them during the attack, it appears the weapon was not used. “He died due to the beating,” he said.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that the victims were involved in a fracas with Monu on March 30 after the brothers allegedly instructed her to stop using abusing language against them during an argument over some “minor issue”.

The situation between the two families turned uglier after the two brothers approached police. However, neighbours had intervened later and sorted out their differences for the time being.

“The argument between them on Thursday continued from where it was left off in the previous incident,” said the officer.