NEW DELHI: In a brazen act of "honour" killing in the national capital, a 23-year-old photographer was stabbed and his throat slit on a busy street in west Delhi's Raghuveer Nagar on Thursday evening, allegedly by the father of the 20-year-old girl he was to marry shortly.

The victim, Ankit Saxena , was kicked and punched repeatedly by the girl's father and uncle before the former stabbed him and slit his throat using a chopper and a knife while her two other relatives held his arms, police said. Ankit's mother, who came to his rescue, was attacked by the girl's mother.

Police have arrested the girl's father, uncle and mother for the murder. They have been sent to Tihar jail after being produced in court, according to DCP (West) Vijay Kumar .

The girl's brother, a minor aged between 16 and 18 years, was detained and sent to a correction home after being produced before a juvenile justice board. Police are likely to request the court to treat him as an adult.

TOI is withholding the names of those arrested as the brother is a minor.

Ankit and the girl he loved were from different communities. The girl has been provided security and sent to a shelter home after she expressed fears that she may be killed by her uncle's associates if she went back home.

The girl, in a statement to the police, said, "I was waiting for him at the Tagore Garden Metro station. He was on his way home to get his motorbike when someone informed me that he had been stabbed. My father and uncle have done all this."

DCP (West) Vijay Kumar said the arrested people have been sent to Tihar jail after being produced before a court. The girl’s brother, aged between 16 and 18, has been sent to a correction facility after being produced before a juvenile justice board. The cops are likely to request the court to treat him as an adult.

The attack took place around 8.30pm on Thursday. Ankit’s family said he was returning from work when he had got a call from the girl’s father and went back towards his studio. “After some time, a youth from our neighbourhood came running to our house saying that Ankit was being beaten by a few people at the chowk on the main road. I rushed out and found the girl’s father and uncle kicking him as he lay on the ground,” said Ankit’s mother Kamlesh, who has a broken rib.

“I tried to stop them, but the girl’s mother pushed me to the footpath and kicked me on my chest. The family accused my son of abducting their daughter. I told them my son was innocent and that they could call the police to find out. I even asked them to search my house. They refused to listen and kept beating my son,” said Kamlesh.

Eyewitnesses say, at one point, Ankit managed to get up and tried saving his mother when two of the youths held him by his arms and dragged him to the edge of the footpath. Then, the girl’s father allegedly stabbed him twice on his ribs and slit open his throat. They threw him on the edge of the footpath and fled.

“He called for help while they were stabbing him and then fell unconscious. His mother tied her chunni on his throat to stop the blood flow and kept calling for help. But passersby, who had stopped to click photographs, did not help her. No one even called the police control room” claimed Ankit’s father Yashpal.

Kamlesh said she managed to stop an e-rickshaw and take her son to a local hospital, from where he was referred to DDU hospital. He was declared dead on arrival at DDU. Kamlesh was admitadmitted with a fractured rib at Safdurjung hospital and released later in the day. The police were informed by the doctors at DDU.

Ankit’s family staged a protest at the Khyala police station later in the evening, demanding death sentence for the accused. Police have recovered CCTV footage from a school opposite the area which has captured the incident.



In Video: Girl’s kin slits her lover’s throat in Delhi