Man strangles friend after a drunken fight

A 30-year-old man strangled his friend after a fight broke out between the two while they were drinking together in southwest Delhi's Najafgarh area.

The man's throat was first choked with a turban and then the accused Naresh pressed his neck with a big stone until he died. Naresh alias Shera was arrested by the police next day on Tuesday.

The incident happened on Monday night when the victim Sumit Sharma, 24, had gone out with his three friends for a drink. Sumit was a small-time financier, said police.

Sumit's body was found the next morning by some passersby lying in a vacant plot.

Sumit's elder brother Amit told police that he had last seen his brother roaming with his three friends on Monday evening. Amit further said when his brother didn't return in the night he had called him on his phone and asked him to come back home soon.

When Sumit didn't return even late in the night, his family members started searching for him in the area.

On the statement of Amit, police registered a case against Naresh, Lavish and Suresh and started searching for the three.

On Tuesday evening, Naresh was arrested from his sister's house in a village in Chhawla.
Naresh told police that an argument had broken out between him and Sumit over the mention of a person.

“The argument soon turned violent and in a fit of rage Naresh first choked Sumit's neck with his turban, and  then dragged him to the ground. He then picked up a stone and pressed it on his neck until he died,” said a police officer investigating the case.

Naresh also allegedly smashed Sumit's face with the stone so that his body couldn’t be recognised.

Police said the other two men didn't intervene as they feared that Naresh would kill them also. “Naresh is a criminal of this area. Three cases of murders are pending against him. He scared the two men off, and they run away,” said the police officer.

Naresh told police that while drinking together, Sumit was talking about a person whom Naresh knew. Naresh warned Sumit to not talk about the person over which an argument broke out between the two and Naresh killed Sumit.

Police said the other two friends of the victim are also being questioned but prima facie it looks like that they were not involved in the incident.

Sumit has survived with his brother and parents. His body has been handed over to them after postmortem, said police.