Jealous friend kills girl at a park in Rohini

New Delhi: A friendship gone sour led to the murder of a Class 12 student by her friend at a park in Northwest Delhi’s Rohini area here on Wednesday. The accused, Sarthak Kapoor, 18, who has been arrested, used to visit the girl’s school frequently. He did not like the girl talking to her classmates and so fought with them, the police said. The girl was one year junior to him, the police said.

On Wednesday evening, he picked up the girl from her coaching institute located at Rohini Sector 17, as he wanted to talk to her. He took her to the back lane of a nearby housing society where they fought over some issue. He then held her by the neck and strangulated her and immediately left the spot of crime and went to his home, the police said.

When the girl did not return home till 8.30 pm, her worried father contacted her classmates, but when he tried contacting Sarthak and did not get a response, the girl’s father went to her friend’s home to know his daughter’s whereabouts. 

The needle of suspicion soon turned on Sarthak when the police questioned him in detail. After initial hesitation, Sarthak admitted to murdering the girl and took the police to the spot where he strangulated her, the police said. 

“The youth has been booked under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 363 (kidnapping). A through probe has been ordered into the case. We are also investigating into other facts provided by the victim’s family,” said Rishi Pal, DCP (Rohini). As per a police officer, the victim’s father in his statement said that Sarthak and his daughter were ‘friends’.

The deceased was a bright student and scored a 10 cumulative grade point average (CGPA) in Class 10. Sarthak and the victim studied at the same private school in Rohini until he passed out from Class 12.