Teenager strangles Delhi schoolgirl to death

Angered over her talking to other boys and not to him, a teenager strangled to death a Class 12 girl he had been friends with earlier after a spat between them turned violent, police said on Thursday. The accused has been arrested.

The body of 17-year-old Shreya Sharma was found around 5 a.m. on Thursday in a lane near her house in Sector 17 of Rohini area of north Delhi, police said. 

Deputy Commissioner of Police Rishi Pal said the accused Sarthak Kapoor, 18, was a year senior to Shreya in school.

On Wednesday, the two met around 5.30 p.m. while she was on her way to her tuition class and went to a park in Sector 17, he said.

"They then went to a nearby narrow lane where a scuffle took place between them. The accused strangled her and she died," Pal said, adding that the boy panicked and rushed home leaving the body at the spot.

When the girl did not return home till 8.30 p.m., her father contacted Sarthak and his father. Initially, the former denied any knowledge but later confessed to have committed the crime.

A police officer privy to the investigation told IANS that the two had been friends for the past two and a half years, but broke off contact around four months after their parents pressurised them.

The officer said that on Wednesday evening, Sarthak fought with Shreya over not talking to him and talking to other boys after which he attacked her and ended up killing her.

Meanwhile, Shreya's father Yogesh told IANS that the accused was a troublemaker and there had been complaints about him in the past also.

"Yesterday I called his parents when she went missing, but he and his parents lied to me and said that they didn't know anything," he said after her last rites. 

Family members told IANS that Shreya was a school topper in Class 10 and had a Cumulative Grade Points Average of 10.

She was also part of a NASA training programme in which she cleared till fourth round, according to her uncle Ajay Verma.

Verma said that around three months back, the family had complained to the boy's parents about him disturbing Shreya. - IANS