Quarrel on puppy: Man killed with axe, accused arrested

New Delhi: After fighting for his life for three days in a hospital, a jhuggi dweller succumbed to his injuries on Monday morning, after being hit on the head with an axe by a neighbour over a quarrel about a puppy in a village in the 'heartless' Capital city.

The 46-year-old deceased identified as one Mahajan was admitted to GTB Hospital on Saturday following an argument with his neighbour, Suresh, who had bludgeoned him with an axe. Suresh, the accused in the case, got involved in the squabble after he learnt that Mahajan had allegedly insulted his father over an argument about their puppy.

According to a complaint registered by Mahajan's grieving wife, Suresh's family thought that their puppy had entered their home and that Mahajan had killed the little canine. Angry about the deceased having insulted his father, Suresh got his axe from inside his jhuggi and hit Mahajan on the head. He died after a three-day-long struggle between life and death.

Police sources familiar with the case said that Suresh was arrested on Saturday itself and that the axe used by him was also recovered and recorded into evidence. The accused is from Bahraich district in Uttar Pradesh. Mahajan and his wife lived near a paper market in Ghazipur in East Delhi. His wife worked on making markings in grindstones for a living and lived with her family in a jhuggi. A case against the accused has been registered at the Ghazipur police station and following Mahajan's death, charges of murder under section 302 of the IPC have been added in addition to the initial charge of attempt to murder.