Three arrested in Riya Gautam murder case

Three people have been arrested here in connection with the murder of an aspiring air hostess Riya Gautam, who was stabbed in full public view this week in Delhi, police said today.

Adil Banne Khan (23), Juned Salim Ansari (19) and Fazil Raju Ansari (18) were arrested by Mumbai Crime branch from suburban Bandra late last night, they said.

While Khan, the main accused, is a resident of Delhi's Mansarovar Park, the two others belong to Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh.

"We have arrested an accused named by Adil and two of his associates from Bandra who were wanted by Delhi Police in a murder case," Sanjay Saxena, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) told PTI.

All the arrested accused were handed over to a team of Delhi Police, Saxena said.

Yesterday, Unit-9 of Mumbai Crime Branch received information that Khan and two of his associates were hiding somewhere in Bandra East, a police official said.

Subsequently, a search operation was carried out in the area and all the three accused were arrested, he said.

According to police, Riya Gautam alias Charu (21), was stabbed multiple times on July 5 by Khan, who was allegedly stalking her. She succumbed to her injuries the next day at a hospital in Delhi.

An offence of murder was registered against Khan at Mansarovar Police Station after Riya's death but the accused was absconding since then.

Her family has alleged that she had filed a police complaint against the accused in April but no action was taken.

The woman, a resident of Ramnagar area in Mansarovar Park, was attacked by Khan in a busy market.

A CCTV grab of the incident shows the accused attacking the woman and she running away from him. After some time, the accused can be seen fleeing from the spot, a police official said.

The victim and Khan had a fight near her house that day following which she was attacked. In an attempt to save herself, she rushed to a shop for help but nobody was present there, police said.

Khan followed her inside the shop and stabbed her multiple times. Even though there were some people, they did not go near Khan for the fear of getting attacked.

She was later rushed to a hospital.

According to police, the victim and the accused were known to each other for the last one year. However, after some time, she distanced herself from him and her indifference irked him.

She approached the police with a complaint against the accused in April but he got a whiff of the matter and when his house was raided, it was found that he had fled to Gujarat.

Khan had allegedly been harassing her and would often ask her to talk to him. When she was returning from a shop, the accused stopped her and tried to engage in a conversation but when she ignored him, he attacked her, eyewitnesses had told the police.