In a bizarre twist to the Prof HS Sabharwal murder case, his son Himanshu’s close aide was found murdered near Khalsa College in Maurice Nagar around 11.30 pm on Thursday.
Less than an hour ago Parminder was with Himanshu and two other friends, Pooja and Saif, pasting posters for a candle-light march on Sunday for justice in the Sabharwal case. A court in Nagpur recently acquitted all six ABVP activists accused in Sabharwal’s 2006 murder.
“Parminder’s wife called Himanshu at 1.30 am to say her husband was not answering his phone. Himanshu assured her he would be home soon. Around 2.30 am we identified the victim and called Himanshu to the police station,” a senior police official said.
Himanshu, Pooja and Parminder had lunched in Connaught Place on Thursday after which they headed for the law faculty in Delhi University’s North campus. They were joined by Saif (secretary, Ramjas College). They pasted posters till 11pm.
Himanshu dropped Saif and Parminder around 11:20 pm and Pooja at 11.50 pm. Parminder was dropped in front of the law faculty building. The police found five stab wounds on Parminder’s body, on his head, neck, shoulder, abdomen and chest. Except for his cellphone, everything was intact. A police official said, “It could be that Parminder was killed somewhere else and dumped at this point.”
Himanshu’s lawyer Jogender Tuli said, “There is no political angle. Some drug dealer might have stabbed Parminder on being snubbed.” He also said an unidentified person was standing nearby when Parminder was dropped.
When PTI asked Himanshu if he suspected anybody for the murder, he said, “I cannot name anybody... But who can have a problem in us organising a protest against the injustice done to my father?”
ABVP vice-president Vikas Dahiya reacted to the statement saying, “If he (Himanshu) is alleging that the ABVP is behind the incident, it is ridiculous.”
