delhi

Updated: May 14, 2019 12:41 IST

A 51-year-old businessman was stabbed to death by a group of persons after he objected to some of them making lewd gestures at his 22-year-old daughter in west Delhi’s Moti Nagar in the early hours of Sunday, police said.

The murdered businessman’s 19-year-old son was also stabbed in the attack. He continues to battle for his life at a private city hospital.

Monika Bhardwaj, deputy commissioner of police (west), said that the people involved in the murder are a rickshaw puller and his three sons – which include two minor boys. “All four of them have been apprehended and booked for murder,” said the DCP.

The victim lived in Moti Nagar’s Basai Darapur with his wife, daughter and son. He ran a shop and rented out two others. His son and daughter are college students.

The crime happened around 2 am on Sunday while the businessman and his daughter were returning home from a hospital where she had visited for her migraine treatment.

“As the father-daughter duo neared home, some boys made gestures at the woman,” said the DCP.

A nephew of the murdered businessman said that the gesture was lewd and was accompanied by vulgar comments. “My uncle was a practical man and decided to first drop his daughter to home safely. He then returned with his son to speak to the father of the abusers,” said the businessman’s nephew.

But the conversation quickly spiralled out of hand. The businessman and his son were repeatedly stabbed by the alleged abusers – all three of them brothers – and their father. It was the businessman’s wife and daughter who ran to their rescue and rushed them to a hospital.

“They surrounded my uncle and cousin and stabbed them using a butcher’s knife. My uncle was murdered for only objecting to them misbehaving with my cousin,” said the nephew. “My uncle received three deep wounds and died on Monday morning after battling for his life. My cousin too was stabbed multiple times and remains critical at a hospital.”

Since the suspects lived in the same neighbourhood, they were quickly identified by the businessman’s daughter. An investigator said that local enquiry led to the arrest of the suspects on Sunday. “The nabbed siblings included two boys aged 16 and 17,” said the officer.