Moti Nagar tense as bizman’s killing takes communal colour

New Delhi: A mahapanchayat was held at Basai Darapur area in Moti Nagar where businessman Dhruv Raj Tyagi was stabbed to death on Sunday when he confronted his neighbour who passed lewd comments at her daughter. The area still remains tense as members of the Tyagi community held a protest and a prayer meeting for the deceased.

A Delhi police officer said that the protest by the Tyagi community, to which the family of the deceased belongs, was largely peaceful and were also joined by others. Traffic was also affected due to the massive protest. The Tyagi community called for a panchayat to mourn the death of the businessman.

“We have decided that no Muslim migrant should be given any house or shop on rent. We do not have any issue with the local Muslims here. We live peacefully here. But Muslims from outside Delhi create trouble here,” Amreesh Tyagi, general secretary of Tyagi community said.

The victim’s family, however, distanced itself from the remarks against the minority community.

“If a Muslim stabbed my uncle, then another Muslim tried to save him and my cousin and rushed them to the hospital. We do not have anything against any community and our family does not support anyone trying to give the communal angle to this incident,” said a nephew of the deceased who did not wish to be named.

A delegation of the Aam Aadmi Party MPs also met Delhi police commissioner and condemned the attempts to “communalise the crime”.

The protesters also demanded compensation from the Delhi government for the victim’s family and sought for government jobs for the two daughters of the deceased.

Anticipating tensions, the police had already beefed up security in the area.

Over 50 Delhi police personnel were deployed and senior officials including joint commissioner of police (West) Madhup Tiwari and deputy commissioner of police (West) Monika Bhardwaj — were also present at the venue, a senior official said.

The official added patrolling has been intensified in the area and a female company of police personnel has also been deployed in the area to ensure that no untoward incident happens.

The police also said they have started door-to-door verification of tenants staying in and around the neighbourhood to ensure no such incident takes place in the future.