Delhi: Juveniles beat Class 9 boy to death over minor tiff

Angry locals come out on streets, vandalise accused’s shop

A Class 9 student, Rajat Menon, was allegedly beaten to death by two juveniles over a minor issue in Mayur Vihar Phase 3 on Wednesday evening. Locals fumed over the gruesome murder and the delay in police action, triggering minor violence in the area. People took to the streets and vandalised the shop of the suspects. All shops in the market have been closed down and the area is now under strict police surveillance.

Fifteen-year-old Rajat was returning from his tuition classes around 6.30 pm when he was stopped by the juveniles who own a pan shop in Mayur Vihar Phase III DDA market. They alleged the victim had stolen an item from their shop a few days ago, but he claimed innocence. On this the duo took him to the house of another boy, his friend, to force him to confess. Four of the victim’s friends were also called to find out who had stolen the item from their pan shop. All of the boys were then taken to Mandirwala park located just behind the DDA market.

“In the park the duo started beating up all the boys in order to find out who had stolen the item from their shop. When Rajat collapsed from the beating, all the other boys ran away. When Rajat’s body stopped responding, the pan shop owner and his accomplice took him to a nearby hospital on their motorcycle,” said a senior police official. “The local hospital refused to admit the boy claiming that it was not equipped with a life-support system. Thereafter, the accused rushed him to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead. The accused fled from the hospital, leaving Rajat’s body behind,” he added.

Rajat’s friends, who managed to flee from the park, went to his house at Sunshine Apartment in the same area, and informed his family members about the matter.

Rajat was a student of Salwan Public School. His elder brother is a Class 11 student of the same school.

The victim’s father, Unnikrishnan, works for Reliance Communications as general manager. The family hails from Kerala.

“We have procured CCTV footage that shows the attackers taking Rajat to a private clinic on a bike. The video shows attackers leaving the clinic with an unconscious Rajat seated between them. We have also got the CCTV footage in which the boy was being chased and caught by the pan vendor,” said the police official.

However, relatives of the victim allege that no action was initiated by the Delhi police to find the culprits even after the case was reported at the police station. The alleged attacker even opened his pan shop on Thursday morning.

“Two juveniles have been apprehended. The police has registered an FIR under IPC Section 302 against the juveniles. We will question victim’s friends to find out the sequence of events. We are gathering information from local shopkeepers to find out the roles of others whose names have come up,” informed Rishi Pal, DCP (East)

He added that the body was handed over to the family after a post-mortem. No external injuries were found on the victim’s body. The police has preserved the victim’s viscera samples as doctors could not ascertain the cause of death in the post-mortem.