Thaindian News

New Delhi, June 27 (IANS) A petty dispute exploded into a full blown assault as a group of armed men stabbed two cousins to death here while one of the attackers was lynched on the spot, police said Saturday.
According to police, a group of over a dozen men, armed with knives and iron rods, barged into the Chirag Delhi home of Vikas, 19, and Virendra Sharma, 25, late Friday and attacked them.

Police said assailants, who reportedly were from the same area, knocked on the door of their house around 10.30 p.m.

When Vikas came to the door, the accused attacked him in a spur of the moment. Upon hearing Vikas’s screams, Vijendra and his friend Babli, 23, came down from the first floor, but the accused also attacked them with knives on chest, face and neck, police said.

The accused also thrashed the women in the house when they tried to intervene and stop them. Police said the neighbours, who rushed to save the family, exchanged blows with accused and caught hold of Sumit, 30.

“The angry neighbours hacked Sumit to death, before we reached the spot,” said an investigating police officer.

Police took the four injured to the Trauma Centre of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), where Vikas, Vijendra and Sumit were declared brought dead. Babli was discharged after treatment Saturday.

“The attackers rang the door bell and as Vikas opened the door they stabbed him in front of me and Vijendra who came to his rescue,” said Vikas’ mother Sunita Sharma.

Sunita, who lost her husband two years ago, lost consciousness after the incident and was given medical aid.

Vikas was a second year student at the college of vocational studies in Delhi.

According to police, it was a case of enmity between two communities and the problem started after a heated argument between the youths of both communities at a wedding ceremony in the locality.

“Past rivalry among the two communities was the core issue for the fight and there were some heated argument between them fours days back. However, the argument between the young members dancing at the marriage ceremony Friday sparked the fire. Some people are under scanner and arrests will be made soon,” said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Chhaya Sharma.

Said Raj Kumar Sharma, a family member: “There were two wedding ceremonies in our community and all of us had gone to attend them. Had we been here, none of the attackers could have dared to enter or have left out after the attack.”

Some residents in locality said the family and their relatives owned large tracts of ancestral lands in the satellite towns of Gurgaon and Noida.