New Delhi: Disabled youth kills girl, slits own throat

[ 6 Sep, 2006 0126hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

NEW DELHI: A 20-year-old woman was stabbed to death by her friend at Chattarpur Extension in Mehrauli on Tuesday afternoon. The man, who is physically challenged, then went on to stab himself and is admitted in AIIMS with little chance of survival.

The victim, Renu, was stabbed 38 times all over the body by Rajesh Singh (26) before he himself slit his throat. Their families are neighbours. According to the police, Rajesh, who is paralysed below the knees because of polio, was in love with Renu.

Renu is also said to have reciprocated his feelings and they were, said the cops, quite friendly for the past several months. Renu was a second-year correspondence student with DU.

On Tuesday afternoon, Renu had come to Rajesh's house around 3.30 pm. Renu was also a close friend of Rajesh's sister Monica. The family members later told the police that Rajesh asked Monica to get water for Renu.

"Rajesh had prepared himself for this. He had hidden a sword and a sharp-edge knife under one of the chairs. As soon as Monica left, he attacked her," said a senior police officer.

Rajesh first stabbed her in the neck with the knife and then used the sword to stab her in the abdomen. Renu died on the spot. Monica informed the neighbours who called up the police.

"Some of the injury marks on Renu's body are defensive in nature which suggests that there was a scuffle before she was killed. It's a crime of passion but we can't say now what was the immediate provocation for killing her," said DCP (south) Anil Shukla.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Rajesh, who was unemployed, was in love with Renu and wanted to marry her. A few family members, however, said that while Renu was also very friendly with him, she had refused to marry him and this led to the incident.

The police recovered a note from Rajesh's room in which he had written that he wanted to commit suicide.

"He had written that he was in great distress and wanted to kill himself and that nobody should be blamed for his death. This note, however, was written almost a month ago. He made no mention of the woman in the note," said a police officer.

Rajesh's father Pal Singh is a supervisor with MCD. Renu's father Gulab Singh was an employee of an export firm. The police have registered a case of murder in Mehrauli police station.