delhi

Updated: Jun 04, 2019 07:48 IST

A quarrel over urinating in the open ended in a man killing his 27-year-old neighbour with a cement slab in the Nehru Camp slum in south Delhi’s Govindpuri in the early hours of Monday, police said.

Chinmoy Biswal, deputy commissioner of police (southeast), identified the victim as Lilu Dhakolia, who has 17 police cases, including that of robbery and snatching, against him.

Dhakolia, a daily wage labourer, lived with his wife and four children in Nehru Camp. His wife, Pinki, said that the incident took place around 12.30am Monday while she was outside her house. Pinki said the confrontation leading to the murder began when she objected to her 65-year-old neighbour, Man Singh, urinating in a drain in the neighbourhood. “The man did not bother when I told him that he was urinating in front of a woman,” she said.

While Pinki claimed she complained to her husband, the DCP said Pinki allegedly slapped Singh. “That prompted Singh’s wife and two sons to jump to his defence, leading to a scuffle,” said the officer.

Soon, Pinki’s husband joined the scuffle, which was temporarily brought under control with intervention from other residents of the area.

“Suddenly, Singh’s son Ravi picked up a cement slab and hit my husband on his head. He then went on to pick a larger slab, climb his vegetable cart and hurl the slab on my husband’s chest. The impact was such that a part of the slab pierced my husband’s chest, killing him on the spot,” Pinki said.

Dhakolia was rushed to the AIIMS trauma centre, where he was declared brought dead. The police registered a murder case and arrested Ravi, a vendor.

Local residents said they did not have access to the slum’s public toilets at nights, prompting them to use the drains flowing through the neighbourhood for relieving themselves.

“Slum dwellers use the toilets at night for consuming drugs or liquor. So, we are forced to lock the toilets between 11 pm and 4 am,” said Ramesh Pal, the caretaker of one of the toilets.