A 72-year-old building contractor was allegedly strangled to death at his home in south-west Delhi’s Sagarpur area during a robbery attempt by his neighbour, who was released from Tihar jail two months ago, police said on Sunday.
This murder-cum-burglary case was solved within 48 hours by the Delhi police, with the arrest of the main accused and his associate who received the stolen property.
The victim, identified as Sunil Saigal, was found unconscious at the scene of the crime and was rushed to Safdarjung Hospital where he was declared dead. His daughter, Mukta, later filed a complaint with the police regarding certain belongings that had gone missing from her home.
DCP south-west Ingit Pratap Singh said, “On May 29, the complainant Mukta Saigal came to the police station and alleged that some articles are missing from their house two cheque books, one ATM Card, one gold chain, one gold ring etc and stated that she suspected that someone had murdered her father and stolen these articles.
The team of Sagarpur police station started investigating and was able to work out the case on the basis of CCTV footage and technical surveillance. They zeroed in on the main accused Sunny, a resident of RZ- 747, Gali No- 4, Main Sagarpur, New Delhi and arrested him. Sunny disclosed that he had broken into Sehgal’s house in the night and was stealing his gold chain, ring and ATM card. After hearing a noise, Sunny went into the washroom, where he happened upon Sehgal. The elderly man tried to scream, but was overpowered and strangulated by Sunny. He also revealed the involvement of his associate Bhanu, who was soon taken into custody. The stolen items were recovered from their possession.
The accused Sunny was earlier arrested in a case of robbery and then an NDPS case. He had been released from Tihar jail on March 15.
