38 pc of killings last yr happened due to personal enmity: Delhi Police

Delhi witnessed 37.95 per cent incidents of killing due to personal enmity last year, with fights over trivial issues or sudden provocation being the second most common reason behind the bloodshed, police said.

Last year, 477 cases of killing were registered as compared to 462 cases the year before. Out of these, 86.16 per cent cases were solved. The incidents of killing per lakh of population have shown a significant decline during the last 14 years, coming down to 2.60 per cent last year from 3.29 per cent in 2004.

According to Delhi Police data, 37.95 per cent of killings were committed due to enmity or dispute, 20.96 per cent of the cases were due to sudden provocation or trivial issues such as accidental brushing-of-shoulder or inability to serve cold water and 10.90 per cent of the killings related to passion like the killing of an Army Major's wife by a fellow officer.

Delhi saw a series of killings committed over personal enmity, including a case where a fashion designer and her domestic help, were allegedly killed by her tailor and his two accomplices in her home in south Delhi's Vasant Kunj Enclave locality following a dispute over unpaid dues.

There were multiple killings over trivial issues where a man was beaten to death allegedly by his former employer after he refused to fill water for him from the tanker in outer Delhi's Ranhola area, while in another incident a man was beaten to death by another person after an altercation over the victim's shoulder touching his when they were crossing a road.

Some of the sensational cases included the killing of Ankit Saxena by family members of a woman whom he was in love with since they belonged to different communities.

Forty-three per cent of the killings were done using sharp-edged weapons, 19 per cent involved usage of fire arms, 16 per cent involved usage of blunt objects, 14 per cent included strangulation, five per cent involved other weapons, while one per cent included usage of poison or liquor.