Mangolpuri murder: Delhi Police transfers case to crime branch

NEW DELHI: The probe into the killing of 25-year-old Rinku Sharma by a group of men in Mangolpuri area has been transferred to Delhi Police's Crime Branch, a day after the fifth accused in the case was arrested, officials said on Saturday.

The police said additional police force have been deployed in the locality to avoid any untoward incident as a few groups staged protests on Saturday.

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta had also met the family of Sharma on Friday to provide an assistance of Rs 5 lakh to them and also claimed the victim was also associated with collecting contributions for the construction of Ram temple.

Saffron outfits including Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) have claimed that Sharma was killed due to his involvement in collection of donation for Ram temple construction in Ayodhya.

However, the Delhi Police has denied any communal angle to the murder and said the fight at a birthday party, after which Sharma was stabbed to death, took place over a business rivalry.

Additional Public Relations Officer (Delhi Police) Anil Mittal said the case has now been transferred to the Crime Branch for further investigation.

A five-member team from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Rohini also visited the crime scene and collected scientific, biological, physical and electronic evidence from the spot in Mangolapuri.

"Our five member team visited the scene of crime to collect scientific, biological, physical and electronic evidence which includes blood stains and electronic footage of the incident.

"The collected evidence was then handed over to the Crime Branch team of the Delhi Police, which is probing the case. The investigating officer (IO) of the concerned case will then submit the collective evidence at the laboratory for detailed examination," said an FSL official.

Seeking justice for her son, Sharma's mother Radha said she was not against the community but want the killers of her son to be hanged.

"We have known their (accused) family and were friends. But six months ago, there was some fight over money. I don't know much. I want justice for my child; the accused should be hanged. I am not against the community, only their family," she said.

According to police, on Wednesday night, when both the victim and the accused men were attending a birthday party, an argument had broken out between them over their food joint business in Rohini.

They also allegedly slapped and threatened each other at the party, following which they left.

The two parties had similar tussles over the same issue sometime back as well, police said.

Later, the four men went to Sharma's house where the victim along with his elder brother were already standing outside with sticks.

A scuffle broke out between the two sides again during which the accused stabbed Sharma and fled from the spot, a senior police officer had said on Thursday.

Sharma's brother Mannu (19) had alleged on Friday that Rinku was killed as he was actively participating in the donation drive for the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

He claimed that the murder was over the fund collection and that the accused had an argument with his family during an event at Dussehra last year.

In the FIR too, which was based on his complaint, menstion has been made about the argument during last year's event.

However, the Delhi Police has denied any communal angle to the murder and said the fight at the birthday party took place over a business rivalry.

So far, Tazuddin, Zahid, Mehtab, Danish and Islam have been arrested in connection with the incident, police said.