Rickshaw puller killed over eating friend's chicken on Holi night

A 42-year-old rickshaw puller was bludgeoned to death with a pestle on Holi night for feasting on his friend’s chicken dish while he was away on some work in central Delhi’s Daryaganj.

The suspect, also a rickshaw puller, was caught the next morning, soon after the crime came to light.

Police said he was drunk at the time of the crime and was found in an inebriated state even when police caught and questioned him on Saturday morning.

The victim Somnath pulled rickshaws in the daytime and even offered his services as a book-keeper for a local trader who owns several cycle rickshaws and e-rickshaws. Very often he spent his nights at the trader’s office located at Ansari Road.

Somnath had called his friend Saurabh to the office to drink with him on Holi night. Somnath had bought some chicken for the two from a stall and had planned to have it with Saurabh later in the night.

However, Somnath received a call from someone midway of their drinking session and he left the office for a brief while. “When he returned a few minutes later, he found that Saurabh had finished much of the chicken while consuming alcohol,” a police officer told Deccan Herald.

An irate Somnath launched a verbal attack on Saurabh and the argument soon turned into a scuffle. Saurabh later claimed during interrogation that Somnath had attacked him with a stick during the scuffle because of which he struck him on his head with a pestle lying nearby.

A badly drunk Saurabh then left the bleeding Somnath outside the office before locking the room and leaving the place. A passerby found an injured Somnath at around 3 am on Saturday and informed police. The victim was rushed to a hospital but was declared brought dead.

Police registered a case and probe revealed that the victim was with Saurabh that night. He was nabbed and found in blood-stained clothes and footwear. Police said that he was in an inebriated state and vehemently denied committing the murder during early interrogations but confessed to the crime later.