Man killed for not paying ‘fee’ at north-east Delhi illegal parking lot

A 32-year-old man was beaten to death at Jyoti Nagar, northeast Delhi, allegedly by six people who posed as parking attendants at a private plot near the local market that is used as an unauthorised parking lot, police said.
Officers said the deceased, identified as Soni Kataria, who worked as a contractual employee with the central government, refused to pay the parking “fee”, which led to his murder. They said four of the accused have been arrested, while a hunt is on for the remaining two.
Police said the incident in question took place in the early hours of Monday. Giving details, officers said Kataria and his friends had gone for a birthday party, and had parked their car at the unauthorised parking lot.
At 12.10am on Monday, they were returning to retrieve their vehicle, when one of them, identified as Kale (goes by single name), was accosted by six people, who demanded that he pay a parking fee.
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A senior police officer said that Kale himself operates a parking lot in the area.
“The accused posed as parking attendants and extorted multiple people in the area. They demanded money from Kale, and Kataria intervened, aware that the accused were not parking attendants,” the officer said.
Police said after a heated argument, everyone left for their respective houses. Kataria, who lived only a short distance away in Gokalpur, decided against sitting in his friends’ car and was walking home when the accused waylaid him, allegedly attacking him with hockey sticks.
“Kataria had sustained injuries to his head, left hand, abdomen and back. He managed to call his father, even as locals and police rushed him to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital where we recorded his (the victim’s) statement. He told us six people attacked him with the intention of killing him,” deputy commissioner of police (northeast) Joy Tirkey said.
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Kataria is survived by his parents and two brothers. Kataria’s father Anar Singh said, “He had gone to attend a friend’s birthday party and had told us that he would be late. His mother was waiting for him. At 1 am, he called us and told us he was injured. I rushed to the hospital. He was severely injured. He told us that he had refused to pay money to a parking attendant who, along with his gang, killed him. What was our boy’s fault?”
Police said that based on Kataria’s statement, they filed a case under BNS sections 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 109 (2) (attempted murder) and Arms Act at the Jyoti Nagar police station. After Kataria died during treatment on Tuesday, murder charges (103) were added to the FIR . The body has been sent for an autopsy, and a report is awaited.
During their investigation, police identified all six accused, and began raiding Gokalpur and Jyoti Nagar to apprehend them, managing to arrest four — Devesh Prasad, 19, Ashwani Kumar, 20, Sachin Kumar, 32, and Arun Jyotsa, 25.
Police said main accused Dheeraj Sharma and his associate Vivek Singh are on the run. “One of them is a repeat offender with more than five criminal involvements,” said the officer.
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DCP Tirkey said Prasad works as a tailor in the local market, and allegedly used a stick to thrash Kataria. His associate, Ashwani Kumar, is a second-year student at Delhi University, who allegedly kicked the victim repeatedly, said police, citing an eyewitness’s statement. The two were accompanied by Sachin Kumar, who works as a rickshaw driver, and Jyotsa.
Police said Sharma allegedly conspired with Jyotsa to extort locals. Police said they were also demanding protection money from locals — including Kale — to run their gang.
A second officer said, “We are investigating the case on both lines (fight over extortion, and over the demand for protection money). All the accused would roam around parking lots at night and extort people.”