Man stabbed to death over choice of song at Puja pandal in west Delhi

NEW DELHI: An argument over the choice of songs being played at a Durga Puja pandal snowballed into a fight in which a 44-year-old man was fatally stabbed in the head in west Delhi’s Khyala area on Sunday.
The victim, Riyaz, had gone to the pandal near his house where he got into an argument with three men over the choice of music.

Cops said Riyaz approached the person in charge to change the music when the argument started between him and three others— Vinay, Manoj and Mahesh, following which both the parties went outside the park to resolve it. However, it only snowballed into a scuffle when one of the accused, in a fit of rage, stabbed Riyaz in the head with a knife.

Riyaz was taken to a nearby hospital and later shifted to Safdarjung Hospital where he died two days later.

DCP (west) Monika Bhardwaj said the three accused were arrested on Sunday night. Initially, the cops had registered a case under IPC Section 307 (attempt to murder) at Khyala police station, which was later changed to 302 (murder).

During interrogation, the accused, all whom have a criminal record, confessed to the crime. The victim also had cases against him, a senior officer said.

The teams are now scanning the video footage to ascertain the exact sequence of events and are also probing if the accused were under the influence of any intoxicant.

The body was handed over to Riyaz’s family on Tuesday.