Man runs away with belongings of landlord after killing him, taking selfie with body

NEW DELHI: A tenant allegedly killed his landlord following an argument, clicked a selfie with his body and escaped with belongings of the deceased in northwest Delhi's Mangolpuri area, police said on Saturday.

The 25-year-old accused, Pankaj Kumar Sahni, hails from Bihar's Samastipur district. Sahni travelled in metro and boarded a train for Rohtak in Haryana from New Delhi to avoid being arrested. He was eventually traced to Mangolpuri Industrial area and arrested after being pursued for around 250 kilometres, a senior police official said.

On August 10, police received a call at 6.41 am regarding the murder and reached the spot. They found a person bleeding from his head and lying unconscious.

The caller, Jagdish (32), said he lives on the ground floor of his house in Mangolpuri and his father Suresh's room was on the first floor, the police official said.

According to Jagdish, his father came along with Sahni four days ago, introduced him as an orphan and expressed the desire that the second floor be rented out to him. They allowed Sahni to stay at their house, police said.

On the evening of August 9, Sahni returned to the house in an inebriated state. An argument also broke out between him and Suresh. The matter was later pacified when Sahni apologised to Suresh and Jagdish, the officer said.

Sahni called Jagdish in the early hours of August 10 and informed him that he had left their house around 11 pm because Suresh used indecent words and filthy language against him which he could not bear. Sahni then burst into laughter, the officer said.

Sensing something unusual and suspicious, Jagdish rushed to the first floor and found his father lying unconscious and bleeding due to a head injury, police said.

During the investigation, the location of the accused was found in Anand Parbat, but he kept on changing it. The accused also travelled in a metro train. He took a train from New Delhi Railway Station and reached Rohtak. Later, he was traced to the Mangolpuri Industrial area and was nabbed from there after a long chase of around 250 kilometres, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer) Sameer Sharma said.

Sahni disclosed that he is a liquor addict and his wife also left him. A few days ago, he came to Mangolpuri in search of work and met Suresh who not only helped him get a job but also allowed him to stay at his house, police said.

On August 9, he reached the house early due to which Suresh got angry, used abusive words and asked him to leave his house. Sahni was bearing a grudge against Suresh, police said.

But after the tenant apologised, Suresh allowed him to stay at the house. Later in the night, they both had liquor and Suresh fell asleep. The accused hit Suresh's head with a hammer, the DCP said.

Sahni disclosed that after killing Suresh, he also took a selfie with the body and recorded a video of it on his phone, police said.

He searched the body and stole his landlord's mobile phone, documents and cash and escaped from the spot, police said. The hammer used in the murder, mobile phone of the deceased and other belongings were recovered, they added.