A 41-year-old man was stabbed to death late Sunday night when he tried to protect a commuter who was being assaulted in a road rage fight in Faridabad, police said on Tuesday. The deceased, identified as Ravinder Kumar, originally from Lalwa village in Palwal and settled in Sector 85, had been working as a chauffeur for a Faridabad businessman for the last 15 years.
Police said Ravinder was stabbed at least seven times in the neck with a broad edged chopping knife, severing his carotid arteries, and one blow tore through his cheek. The attack took place on the dividing road of Sector 17 and Sector 18 while he was returning home in his car.
According to a officers privy to the investigation, the chain of events began when commuter Navin Kumar scolded three men for riding their motorcycle dangerously and overtaking in a haphazard manner on the Bypass road. The trio intercepted Navin abused him and assaulted him after a verbal altercation, police said.
Ravinder happened to be crossing the spot at the time, police said. On seeing Navin being beaten, he stepped in and managed to separate both sides, after which all three men left. Investigators said the suspects then moved about 1.5 kilometres ahead and waited for Navin on the Sector 17 18 dividing road.
When they intercepted him again, Ravinder, who was following Navin, reached the spot. A senior police official said he attempted to shield Navin once more but the trio turned on him instead. “Before Ravinder could understand anything or reach a safe distance to avoid being attacked, one of the suspects pulled out a knife and stabbed him multiple times in the neck in quick succession,” he said.
Ravinder collapsed within a minute as he bled profusely. Navin raised an alarm and alerted the police control room. An emergency response vehicle and ambulance reached the spot soon after, but by then, Navin had taken him to a private hospital in Sector 16 with help from other commuters, where doctors declared him dead.
Yashpal Yadav, public relations officer of Faridabad police, said a crime branch team arrested the prime accused, Satish Kumar, 22, on Monday night. “He hailed from Baselwa and had three criminal cases registered against him and had come out of jail hardly two months back. Satish was the one who had a broad edged chopping knife with himself using which he had stabbed Ravinder resulting in his death,” he said. Satish was produced in court on Tuesday and sent to four-day police remand.
On the complaint of Ravinder’s son Yashvinder, an FIR under sections 103(1) (murder) and 3(5) (Common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered at Sector 17 police station.