Date:03/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/03/stories/2007110358870300.htm

New Delhi

Karol Bagh murder accused identified by police

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The 22-year-old man arrested in connection with the murder of jeweller Abhay Sharma of Karol Bagh here on Tuesday has been identified as Rahul Kumar of Gandhinagar in Gujarat. The accused had earlier misled the police saying he was Rakesh of Haryana.

Financial crisis

“Rahul was passing through a financial crisis and decided to rob Abhay Sharma. On being caught by a police party on patrol and passers-by, he fabricated a story saying his accomplice Draunil, whom he knew for the past few months, had committed the murder. But investigations have now established that the murder was committed by Rahul and no one was accompanying him at the time,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Alok Kumar.

Abhay Sharma, a resident of Gurgaon in Haryana, was stabbed at his Vaibhav Jewellers shop on Padam Singh Road around 5 in the evening.

He was taken to Jassa Ram Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

“Rahul, who hails from a middle class Gujarati family, did not complete his graduation and went to Singapore last December to pursue a hotel management course. In Singapore, he met one Amit Kumar who cheated him of over Rs.3 lakh promising him a visa to the US,” said Mr. Kumar.

Distressed over the loss of money, Rahul came to Delhi on October 8 without informing his family.

He stayed at Gujarati Samaj Bhawan at Kashmere Gate.

Taking inspiration from the Bollywood film “Dhoom-II”, he decided to commit robbery to get out of the financial mess.

He went around Chandni Chowk and Karol Bagh looking for an easy prey and finally zeroed in on Vaibhav Jewellers, a precious stones and silver jewels shop.