Man beaten to death with helmet

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, May 21, 2015: A 40-year-old businessman was allegedly bludgeoned to death by four assailants late on Tuesday in Connaught Place’s Shankar Market.

 

Police said the assailants are absconding. The incident comes 10 days after a bus driver was beaten to death by a biker in Mundka area.

Police said four men attacked Biju Verghese, owner of Capital Express Courier stall around 11 pm on Tuesday. When Verghese collapsed, police said the accused fled the spot.

According to police, Verghese and his field boys John and Vijender were working in their shop late on Tuesday after which Verghese left.

“When Vijender and I went downstairs a few minutes later, we heard a commotion on the street. We saw that four youths were choking and punching Verghese repeatedly. We rushed to rescue him, but they pushed us away and began beating him even harder. They then took Verghese’s helmet from his two-wheeler parked nearby and began beating him with it till he collapsed,” John said in the FIR.

John then ran to Super Bazaar where a PCR van was stationed. Police rushed to the spot and saw Verghese lying in a pool of blood on the road. Police said Verghese was rushed to RML hospital where he was declared brought dead. His body was sent to Lady Hardinge hospital for an autopsy on Wednesday.

“A case of murder was registered at Barakhamba Road police station. The two shop hands were questioned as were other witnesses. We are trying to trace the assailants. There are no CCTV cameras in the rear portions of Shankar Market though many shopkeepers have installed personal cameras. We have recovered footage from these to ascertain the identity of the assailants,” a senior officer said.

Verghese’s wife, his eight-year-old-son and six-year-old daughter were away in Kottayam, Kerala when the incident happened, his friends said.

“ Verghese was supposed to travel to Kerala on Thursday. His family was informed and his body will be flown down to Kottayam this evening. He had set up his shop in the market five years ago though he had come to Delhi in 1998. John and Vijender have been working for him for many years. He never told anyone if there was someone troubling him or if he had a fight with someone recently,” Verghese’s friend Chandran said.

Verghese’s aunt Rosamma said he had called her up around 8 pm on Wednesday and told her that he would reach home, in East Delhi’s Chilla Village, at 10.30 pm because he was expecting someone with whom he had scheduled a meeting.  Chandran, however, said Vijender did not mention this.

Meanwhile, police had called for a meeting with the Delhi Courier Club of Shanker Market on Wednesday evening to discuss security issues and installation of CCTV cameras. “The SHO called a meeting and around 40 members of the club attended. We discussed the need for better security measures. All shop-owners have decided to pool in money to purchase CCTV cameras and install them across the length of the street.”

 

Courtesy: Indianexpress