When the passerby intervened, the accused fled, the police said. (Representational)
A 25-year-old man was arrested and a juvenile apprehended for allegedly killing an acquaintance who could not pay for a sound system he had rented from the accused in north Delhi's Sabzi Mandi area, police said on Thursday.
The accused, Raja, a resident of Mori Gate, and his 16-year-old associate were on the run and had switched off their mobile phones after the alleged crime.
The duo was arrested by plainclothes police while they were entering the Tis Hazari Court complex to meet Raja's lawyer on Wednesday, the police said.
The incident took place around 11 pm on January 29.
A passerby told the investigators that he witnessed the victim Munindra Kumar Shahi lying on the road in Mori Gate while a boy from his colony stood over him with a foot on his chest as Raja kept hitting him on the head with a heavy wooden baton.
When the passerby intervened, the accused fled, the police said.
The passerby and another person brought the injured victim to HRH Hospital where doctors declared him dead, they said.
Interrogations revealed that Raja ran a business of renting sound systems for small functions. The victim had rented a sound system from him for Rs 1,500 for New Year. However, Shahi was yet to pay Raja, resulting in a heated argument between them, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said.
On the night of January 29, there was another argument between the accused and Shahi over the issue, leading to the murder by Raja and his juvenile associate, he said.
Raja was previously found involved in a case of hurt (Section 319 of the Indian Penal Code) registered at Subzi Mandi police station.
A wooden baton and bloodstained clothes worn by the accused at the time of the murder have been recovered, the police said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)