By Zafar Abbas

New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS): A brutal double murder over rent, a tiff over a bike stunt, a robbery gone wrong, elimination over an extramarital affair, reasons and excuses may be many but Delhi has seen 285 murders till July 31 this year.

This is just 13 short of what it saw last year during the same period. In 2019, Delhi witnessed 521 murders in the whole year. In almost a decade, Delhi has witnessed 5,071 murders since 2011 till July 31, 2020.

On Monday night, a 23-year-old slashed the throats of two of his roommates in west Delhi's Raghubir Nagar after they pressured him to pay their house rent. The accused however argued that since he returned from his home after four months, he is not liable to pay rent. The scuffle that followed led to the double murder.

In another incident, a tiff over a lewd comment passed on one's wife turned fatal for a 26-year-old auto driver as he was stabbed to death by a man in south Delhi's Vasant Kunj on Tuesday . The accused identified as Surender attacked Sagar after he slapped Surender for passing lewd comments on his wife.

Last month in Rohini, a woman along with her paramour murdered her husband after she discovered that her husband was older than what she thought before their marriage. The accused first strangled the man with a ‘chunni' and then hung his body from a ceiling fan to make it look like suicide.

In July, a 25-year-old man died when three juveniles allegedly stabbed him more than 28 times, days after he told them not to perform bike stunts in west Delhi's Raghubir Nagar. The incident was captured on CCTV.

Not just this, gang wars in Delhi have also contributed to the statistics of murders in Delhi in the recent past.

In May this year, two members of the Nasir gang were shot dead in northeast Delhi. Both were pumped with several bullets by suspected Chenu gang members in a day. The gangs in their bloody battle have left several dead in the area in what is known as a fight for dominance.

In 2011, a total of 543 people were murdered in Delhi. In 2012, at least 521 people were slain. In the year 2013, a total of 517 people were killed in the national capital. In 2014, a total of 586 people were killed while in 2015, 570 others were murdered.

In 2016, a total of 528 people were murdered and in 2017, another 487 people were killed.

In 2018, a total of 513 people were murdered and in 2019, the total number of people found murdered in Delhi was 521.

Till July 31 this year, Delhi has seen 285 murders. The Delhi Police was able to crack most of these cases.