New Delhi, Dec. 26, 2018: A fight between two homeless men over sleeping space on a footpath near Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital in central Delhi area claimed the life of one of them late on Monday night.

The body of the homeless man with multiple injuries on his face and head was found on the roadside near the hospital by a police patrol around 8.30 am. He was identified as Chander Singh Rawat, police said.

Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Madhur Verma said the accused, identified as Vicky, was arrested from the same area in the morning. He was sleeping on a pavement near the hospital.

“Vicky was under the influence of a narcotic drug when the police caught him after seeing blood on his hands, shoes, and clothes. He initially denied but when we interrogated him about the blood, he confessed,” said Verma.

An investigator said Vicky disclosed he was sleeping on the pavement under a tree with a wall shielding his body from the cold. Around midnight, Rawat arrived and saw Vicky sleeping. Both of them were under the influence of liquor and drugs.

Rawat told Vicky he was sleeping in his place and asked him to leave. As Vicky refused, Rawat picked up a stick and hit him. A fight broke out between the two men, the officer said.

“Vicky picked up a stone and hit Rawat on his head. When Rawat began bleeding, Vicky snatched the stick from his hand and started assaulting him. When Rawat ran, Vicky chased and attacked him with the stone and stick till he collapsed,” said the officer, quoting Vicky.

Police said since the area was secluded, nobody heard or saw anything. Vicky left, leaving Rawat to die. He walked a few hundred metres towards the hospital and slept on the pavement near gate number 4, police said.

A patrolling van staff spotted the injured man and rushed him to the hospital where he was declared brought dead. A murder case was registered at the North Avenue police station. “We were looking for the suspect when we saw Vicky sleeping with blood on his clothes. We recovered the stick with blood on it,” the officer said.

Rawat was from Uttarakhand while Vicky is a resident of Delhi’s Baljeet Nagar but had been living on streets near RML hospital for the past few months, police said.

(The Hindustan TImes)