Homeless Men Stab To Death 2 Other Vagrants In Dispute Over $0.67: Police

Two men in the Indian capital of New Delhi have been arrested after they allegedly fatally stabbed two of their fellow homeless companions this week over a debt that amounted to less than a dollar, police said.

The alleged killers, identified only as Jugnu, 27, and Sonu, 28, allegedly stabbed the victims' necks five to six times while they were asleep on the pavements of south Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin area at around 3 a.m. Tuesday, newspaper the Hindustan Times reported, citing police.

Authorities discovered the victims after they received a call that day of two people lying on a footpath with stab wounds to their necks, according to deputy commissioner of police Esha Pandey.

A police team reached the site and the two men were taken to the All India Institute Of Medical Science, where they were declared dead on arrival.

Police registered a murder case following the discovery of the two victims and an investigation into the incident was launched.

Four eyewitnesses present at the scene of the crime later identified the deceased as Mayur Thomas and Lokesh Bahadur — both 40-year-old homeless men who lived under the Barapullah flyway.

Jugnu and Sonu, two drug addicts who also lived on the pavements in the neighborhood, were arrested in Labour Chowk, Masjid Road within two hours of the crime after the eyewitnesses identified them as the two victims’ killers, a report by the Press Trust of India said.

Additionally, the knife used in the crime was recovered, according to police.

Jugnu told authorities he met with Thomas and Bahadur Monday night to ask for the Rs 50 ($0.67) they borrowed from him to be returned, but the pair allegedly assaulted and humiliated him in the presence of other homeless people instead.

"[Thomas and Bahadur] had borrowed [$0.67] from him some days ago and were not returning it. Whenever he demanded his money back, they used to threaten and ridicule him," a police officer associated with the case was quoted as saying.

Jugnu approached his friend, Sonu, following the encounter and told him about it. The two friends then returned to the footpath where Thomas and Bahadur were sleeping and allegedly attacked them in their sleep before fleeing, police said.