A case of murder was registered at the Parliament Street police station (Representational)
A man has been arrested for allegedly killing his neighbour following an altercation between them over sharing of beer and cigarettes in New Delhi's Janpath area, police said on Monday.
The accused was identified as Prem Chandra, a resident of Fatehpur district in Uttar Pradesh, they said, adding that the incident took place on July 18.
The police said the body of the victim, who was later identified as Justin, was recovered on July 18 from inside a shanty near the National Archives in Janpath, where a few labourers involved in the construction of a road around Rajpath lived.
The victim was among one of the labourers who worked there, police said.
During an inquiry, the police learnt Justin had a quarrel in the afternoon over some issue with his neighbour Chandra, who also worked as a labourer at the same site.
Both had allegedly assaulted each other during the quarrel. The accused also received injuries on his head, following which he fled the spot, Eish Singhal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi), said.
A case of murder was registered at the Parliament Street police station, he said.
Since Chandra had no mobile phone, he used to make calls through the phones of his fellow labourers, however, during a combing operation on the lawns along Rajpath, Chandra was found hiding behind a tree, Eish Singhal added.
During interrogation, the accused disclosed that he had an altercation with the victim over sharing of beer and cigarettes, he said.
Chandra claimed that Justin had hit him on his head with a beer bottle, following which he allegedly hit him back on his face multiple times with a brick and a hammer, the DCP added.
When Justin fell unconscious, Chandra stashed him beneath a bed and fled, he said.
Broken glasses of the beer bottle and the blood-stained brick were recovered from the spot. The blood-stained hammer has also been recovered at the instance of the accused, police said.