55-year-old beaten to death for refusing to lend ₹1000

Gurugram: A 55-year-old man was beaten to death at Bajghera in Gurugram after he refused to lend ₹1,000 to one of his employees, police officers said on Thursday.

The deceased was identified as Amruddin Ali, who operated a plastic scrap and recycling business. Shariful Sheikh, 24, the accused, has been arrested, police said.

Police said the incident took place at about 7.30pm on Monday when Ali and his son Rahmat, 24, were in their warehouse.

Rahmat in his police complaint said Sheikh asked his father for ₹1,000.

“My father could not immediately lend him the money as he didn’t have cash and asked him to wait sometimes for arranging it,” he said. “However, Sheikh kept putting pressure on him. I left the spot, but then Sheikh began assaulting my father repeatedly with a heavy blunt object. Hearing screams I rushed back and raised an alarm.”

Police said as soon as they were informed, Ali was rushed to the Sector 10A civil hospital, from where he was referred to PGIMS Rohtak, where doctors performed surgeries for massive brain haemorrhage, but he succumbed to his injuries early on Thursday morning.

Sandeep Kumar, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said that looking at the grievous nature of the injuries, Sheikh was arrested on Wednesday. “He was forwarded to judicial custody after production before a city court,” he said.

Kumar said Sheikh was initially booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 109(1) (attempt to murder) and 351(3) (criminal intimidation) at Bajghera police station on Wednesday, but murder charges were invoked against him after Ali’s death.