What began as a routine night of club-hopping for a 39-year-old man ended in a chilling murder that police unraveled through a digital trail of just one rupee. Delhi Police have apprehended a 17-year-old boy for the crime, tracing him through a “test transaction” made using the victim’s stolen credit card.
According to police, the victim left his north Delhi home on his motorcycle on January 25 and never returned. His bike was later found near RK Ashram Metro Station, prompting the family to file a missing person complaint at Paharganj police station.
Grisly discovery in Railway Colony
The horrifying details surfaced on February 2, when the victim’s younger brother learned that he occasionally rented a room to party in the Railway Colony area. Breaking open a locked room, he found the man’s partially decomposed, half-naked body lying amid blood-soaked clothes and debris. Forensic teams later confirmed fatal injuries to the neck and chest, indicating a violent struggle.
₹1 digital trail cracks the case
With no immediate suspects, police turned to the victim’s financial records. Investigators noticed a suspicious ₹1 UPI transaction made after the man’s death. Tracing the beneficiary account led them to a 17-year-old in Ghaziabad. CCTV footage also showed the victim boarding an auto-rickshaw with a young male on the night he went missing.
Joint teams from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh tracked and apprehended the minor near Mandir Marg in the early hours of February 3.
Interrogation reveals violent fallout
During questioning, police said the teenager admitted to meeting the victim outside a bar in Paharganj. He claimed the encounter turned violent inside the rented room following a dispute during a sexual liaison. In panic and rage, the boy allegedly struck the man with a gas cylinder and later attacked him with a glass shard.
After the murder, the teenager allegedly stole cash, a credit card and a mobile phone, locked the room from outside, and fled. He later bought a new smartphone using the stolen money.
Police have recovered blood-stained clothes, weapons used in the crime and the newly purchased phone. Further legal proceedings are underway.