Employee murders dairy owner following argument over pay cut

new delhi: The Delhi Police on Monday said they arrested a 21-year-old man for allegedly murdering his employer by first attacking him with a wooden stick and then slitting his throat purportedly because the employer had slapped him over salary reductions, which he was bringing in due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown.

Police said that on August 12, an information was received that one Om Prakash, the owner of a dairy located near Kali Mata Mandir in Baba Haridas Nagar Colony was missing since the intervening night of August 10-11. "The 45-year-old man was last seen with his servant. A missing report was registered on the report of his nephew Purshottam. However, following a stinking report from a well nearby, a hunt was launched and the decomposed body of the victim was recovered from the well and the dead body had clear signs of murder," one official said.

The teams of special staff (Dwarka) under Inspector Naveen Kumar and Baba Haridas Nagar police station under SHO Jagtaar Singh started their investigation.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Anto Alphonse said that it was ascertained that his only domestic worker, Tasleem, a 21-year-old, was also missing along with the victim's motorcycle from next day without any reasonable

explanation.

Tasleem was later nabbed near Ganda Nala in Jharoda and police said that he was introduced to victim Om Prakash in June 2020 by one relative of the victim to work as labourer or servant in the victim's dairy shop at a salary of Rs 15,000 per month.

"However, due to lockdown and other COVID-19 related conditions, the dairy business was not performing well and the victim asked him to work with a lower salary," the official said. This caused an argument between the two and Om Prakash slapped him in the intervening night of August 10-11.

After the victim went to sleep, he attacked the victim with a wooden stick on the head and also slit his neck with a knife. When the victim died, he packed the body in a gunny bag and threw it in a well nearby.

When relatives of the victim asked him about Om Prakash's whereabouts after the murder, he told them that he had gone somewhere for work, but by evening he started fearing getting caught so he fled with the victim's motorcycle and mobile phone. "He stayed here and there and returned to Delhi on Sunday to see if there was any suspicion on him but he was caught," the official said.