A day after the gruesome murder of a 22-year-old school teacher by her spurned lover, relatives of the woman protested on Wednesday by placing the body on road.
The demonstration created traffic jam around Burari Chowk in North Delhi, blocking traffic between Burari and Sant Nagar.
“Crowd started to gather around the body around 2 pm. We diverted the traffic to different roads,” said Deepak Gauri, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic-Outer range).
Eyewitnesses said hundreds of people shouted slogans against the police and started marching towards the Burari police station. However, senior police officers intervened and persuaded the protestors to end the demonstration.
“We requested them to stop the protest march after which the body was taken to Nigam Bodh Ghat for the last rites,” said a senior police officer.
The deceased Karuna Kumar was stabbed 22 times by Surendra Singh, 34, with a scissor on Tuesday morning while she was on her way to Novel Riches School where she used to teach.
In the over three minute CCTV footage of the incident, scores of passersby were seen passing by the scene and no one dared to stop the man seemed to be possessed with a murderous rage.
Only after several minutes when Surendra was finished rendering the woman near-dead, did the crowd gather courage and overpowered Surendra. Karuna was rushed to a Trauma Centre where she was declared brought dead.
“We have taken Surendra for four days custody. We will ask him about the motive for the killing and investigate if some other people are also involved in it,” said a senior police officer.
According to investigators, Surendra had reportedly been stalking her for the past six months. Sources said Surendra had been enraged ever since he saw photos of Karuna which she had sent to a man on his WhatsApp number.
On Tuesday, Surendra had asked Karuna to meet him at GTB Nagar Metro station. The two met, hours before he killed her, sources said.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, Delhi’s Art and Culture Minister Kapil Mishra and Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal met Karuna’s family.
The DCW chairperson met the mother of the victim and recorded her statement. The DCW on Wednesday issued a notice to Delhi Police regarding the case, PTI reported.
“I met the mother and other family members of the girl. They have alleged that the girl had submitted a written complaint against the said accused to Burari Police Station in the first week of May,” the notice issued to Joint Commissioner of Police, Sanjay Singh said.
“However, it is alleged that the police did not take any action against the culprit as the father of the man is retired Delhi Police officer and he used his clout to prevent any action against his son. This inaction, further emboldened the man to carry out the heinous act,” it added.
DCW has asked police to provide it the copy of girl’s complaint and FIR registered in the said incident of murder within 48 hours.
