Balongi, March 16 – Holi celebrations turned tragic for a family in Balongi after a 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death by five juveniles in the local market on Friday.
All five accused, including four from Balongi and one from Chandigarh, were arrested and sent to a juvenile justice home. Police said the suspects, all daily wagers, targeted the victim, Akash, who also drove an auto-rickshaw.
Akash’s father, Rajwinder Chauhan, a vegetable seller from Uttar Pradesh, told police his son had gone to the market when the accused surrounded him. “I saw them arguing, and before I could intervene, one of them stabbed Akash in the leg while the others attacked him with a knife,” he said. As Chauhan raised an alarm, the accused fled, leaving Akash in a pool of blood.
The victim was rushed to the Phase-6 civil hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Investigators said the attack was a revenge killing. “Two days before Holi, the victim had slapped one of the accused in public. Holding a grudge, the accused called his friends after spotting Akash and attacked him,” a police officer said.
All accused have been booked under Sections 103(1) (murder), 190 (unlawful assembly), and 191(3) (rioting with a deadly weapon) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at the Balongi police station.
