An 18-year-old student of the Delhi University’s School of Open Learning (SOL) has allegedly stabbed and strangulated one of his women friends to death, before trying to burn her body at Sanjay Van in south Delhi’s Mehrauli, police said on Monday.

The incident took place on Sunday, they said, adding that the accused has been arrested.

Police said the accused had called the victim, also 18 years old and an SOL student of BA English (Honours), to the forested area.

The victim, a resident of Jahangirpuri, had left home in the morning for her classes, never to return.

“She had last informed her mother around noon that she would be back soon. When she failed to return, her family began searching for her,” a senior police officer said.

In the evening, the complainant received a call from the father of the accused, Arshkrit Singh, informing her that his son was attacked with a knife at Sanjay Van and was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Pitampura.

The victim’s parents went to Sanjay Van to look for their daughter but could not find her.

“Based on suspicion and past altercations between the victim and Arshkrit, the complainant alleged that he may have abducted her,” the officer said.

A missing-person case was registered at the Mehrauli police station on Monday and a detailed investigation launched, including the collection and analysis of CCTV footage.

“Singh, a first-year B.Com student in the SOL and a resident of Rani Bagh, was apprehended and interrogated. During sustained questioning, he confessed to the crime,” the officer said.

The accused told police that he had called the victim to Sanjay Van, took her to a secluded area in the forest and stabbed and strangled her to death. After killing her, he tried to set the body on fire and fled the spot, police said.

“He later went to a hospital for the treatment of minor injuries sustained during the attack,” the officer said, adding that police found the charred body of the victim from Sanjay Van.

A mobile crime team and forensic experts visited the crime scene and collected exhibits. Subsequently, the provisions for murder and destruction of evidence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) were added to the FIR.

The weapon of offence was also found at the instance of the accused.

Police are probing the motive behind the crime and it appears to have stemmed from a prior dispute.

The accused’s father is an electrical-equipment seller at Rani Bagh.

The body has been sent for postmortem and further investigation is underway, the officer said.

Police sources said the accused had doubts that the victim had an affair with someone.

“The accused, who is in custody, is showing no remorse. We are questioning him but he is completely mum over the entire matter,” the source said.

Family members of the victim have alleged that the accused was stalking her for the last two-three months.

The victim’s sister said she was a student of BA English (Honours) and was also learning the Korean language.

She said her sister left the house at around 8:10 am on Sunday.

“The accused took her to Sanjay Van in Mehrauli. We got to know that he grabbed my sister’s neck and stabbed her multiple times. He set her ablaze by putting petrol on her. We demand immediate justice and capital punishment for the accused,” she said.

She also said that they tried to reach the victim via calls but her phone was switched off.

“We only got to know about her when we received a call from the father of the accused, who told us that my sister had attacked his son with a knife. We went to the Mehrauli police station in the evening and got a missing report lodged, after which police formed multiple teams and launched a search operation at Sanjay Van,” she added.

The victim’s father told reporters that she was their younger daughter.

“She was going to college when she received a message from the accused from a different number. We got to know from police that the accused reached the crime scene at around 8:30 am, whereas my daughter went there at around 9:45 am, as shown in the CCTV footage. The accused came out of the park at around 12:45 pm,” he said.

He said he watched the entire CCTV footage captured till 4 pm and his daughter was not seen coming out of the park.

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