Ex-Merchant Navy sailor kills father, causes explosion in Delhi apartment

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Jan 09, 2017: At a house in east Delhi, horror unraveled on Sunday afternoon as a former merchant navy sailor allegedly killed his father, attacked his mother and caused a gas cylinder explosion that left 13, including policemen, injured.

Around 2.30 pm on Sunday, Rahul Mata allegedly stabbed his father RP Mata, a retired financial sector employee, repeatedly with a knife at their home in Madhu Vihar. Then he turned on his mother Renu Mata and attacked her with the same knife as she tried to save her husband.

Alarmed by the screams from the fourth floor apartment, neighbours and security guards of the Ajanta housing society came to the door and tried to open it. Rahul Mata, believed to be in his 30s, allegedly started threatening them.

When a police team arrived at the flat, Rahul locked himself up in the kitchen and allegedly set the cooking gas cylinder on fire.

"As soon as the police team reached his flat, Rahul locked himself in the kitchen and opened the cylinder’s knob to release the gas. He set the cylinder on fire when the police team tried to break open the door," Deputy Commissioner of Police Omvir Singh told the IANS news agency.

"Despite their injuries, my officers acted bravely and overpowered him. Had they (the policemen) not caught him, he would have killed other persons," the official said.

Rahul Matta was allegedly notorious in the neighbourhood and was accused of harassing women. His father recently put out an advertisement in a newspaper announcing that he has disowned him.