A 17-year-old boy bludgeoned a railway technician with a gas cylinder and then slit his throat after he allegedly tried to force himself on the minor, Delhi police said on Tuesday.
The man’s family claimed that the killing was a “planned murder”.
According to police, Sandeep Kumar Malviya (39), who had been missing since January 25, was found dead inside a locked room in a parking area of north Delhi’s Gulabi Bagh.
The body was found in a semi-naked condition, with articles scattered over it. It also bore injury marks on the neck and chest, and the face was partially decomposed, they added.
Also Read: Delhi MPs recommend works, but little gets built nearly two years into Lok Sabha term
The crime and forensic science lab teams examined the scene, and the body was sent to Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital for a post-mortem. The clothes found at the spot were seized.
“Sandeep had left home on his motorcycle around 3 pm on January 25, but did not return. On January 27, a friend informed his family that his motorcycle was parked near RK Ashram Metro Station, after which a missing report was lodged at the Paharganj police station,” Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sumit Kumar Jha said.
On February 2, his younger brother, Mandeep Kumar Malviya (37), came to know that Sandeep had rented a room in Railway Colony, Subzi Mandi, which he occasionally visited with friends.
The lock of the room was broken, and the body was found inside. Police said CCTV footage from the area showed Sandeep travelling in an auto-rickshaw with a boy.
Investigators also found that Rs 1 had been transferred from his UPI account as a test transaction. The beneficiary account was traced to a minor, they added.
Police apprehended the minor, who is a resident of Ghaziabad, from the Mandir Marg area early on February 3. During questioning, the boy revealed that on the intervening night of January 25 and 26, he met the railway technician near a bar in Paharganj.
The minor also told police that he demanded money from Sandeep, following which he took the boy to the rented room.
Police said the boy hit the man on the head with a cylinder after he asked the minor for a sexual favour. “Then, the boy slit Sandeep’s throat with a shard of glass. In the scuffle, the minor also sustained multiple small cuts in his palm and right hand,” the officer said.
The boy then changed his clothes, which were soaked in blood and put on Snadeep’s extra set of clothes kept in the room. He also took away Rs 2,000 in cash, the railway technician’s credit card and mobile phone.
“The minor locked the room from the outside and slid the keys inside the room. He then escaped from there and went to Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh,” Jha added.
Police said he later withdrew Rs 4,000 from an ATM using the card and purchased a mobile phone worth Rs 14,000. Clothes allegedly worn at the time of the crime, broken glass pieces, a gas cylinder from the spot and the newly purchased mobile phone have been recovered.
Speaking to PTI, Mandeep claimed that his brother was murdered. “On January 25, 2026, he left home saying he was going to a party with his friends. When he did not return the next day, we began searching for him and contacted all his friends, but none of them gave us any information,” he said.
“On January 27, his bike was found near R K Ashram Metro Station, after which we went to the police station to file a complaint, but only after facing a lot of hassle,” Mandeep added.
He said that CCTV footage revealed that Sandeep had an altercation with his friends over a bill payment, something none of them informed the family about.
Later, he was seen leaving with an unidentified person, who is now the main accused in the murder, Mandeep said. “CCTV footage shows that he was with this person from the night of January 25 till the morning of January 26,” he added.
According to police, there was an altercation between them, and Sandeep’s body was later found in a small makeshift room converted into a party space near the Sabji Mandir railway colony, he said.
“The accused roamed around with my brother throughout the night and killed him. I strongly believe this was a planned murder. The room was locked from the outside, and everything appears to have been deliberately arranged,” he claimed.
Mandeep said that while they were searching for his brother as a missing person, Sandeep was lying there in a very bad condition and based on his last CCTV location, they went to check the place for any of his belongings, as it was their usual party spot.
“I sent my brother to the spot, but he found the door locked. I asked him to break the lock and replace it later. When he broke open the door, he found a dead body and immediately called me. I reached there, identified my brother by a mark on his leg, and informed the police,” he said.
The investigating officer who was handling the missing case also arrived, he added.
“My brother was the sole breadwinner of his family and is survived by his two children, aged eleven and seven. We want justice for my brother,” Mandeep said.
Further investigation is in progress, police said.
