NEW DELHI — Outside the mortuary of Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in East Delhi, Surender Kumar stood shattered, struggling to process the horrific death of his 19-year-old daughter, Neha. Tears streamed down his face as he whispered, “All we want is justice for my daughter.”
Neha, who had recently begun working at an oil company, was a symbol of hope for her family. With Kumar securing a factory job just days earlier, the family had been looking forward to a better future—until it was brutally stolen.
Kumar recounted the moment his world collapsed:
“I was downstairs doing some work when I suddenly heard loud noises from upstairs. When I rushed up, I saw Taufiq attacking Neha on the terrace. He had entered the building disguised in a burqa. Before I could do anything, he pushed her off the roof.”
Shaken and injured, Kumar described how he tried to save his daughter.
“I lunged forward to stop him, but he shoved me hard. I fell and hurt my arm badly. I couldn’t move. I was helpless—just screaming as I saw my daughter fall,” he said, his voice cracking.
Taufiq allegedly fled the scene moments later. “Some neighbours chased him, but he managed to slip away through the narrow lanes,” Kumar said.
Neha had completed her Class XII and was determined to support her family. She had known Taufiq for several years. According to relatives, he had once told the family he had no sister, and Neha, treating him like a brother, even tied a rakhi on his wrist.
“He became close to the family over time,” a relative said. “But later we found out he had lied—he did have a sister. After that, Neha broke ties with him, and that’s when the harassment began.”
The family said Taufiq began calling Neha repeatedly at her workplace and had been warned to stop. Recently, they said, he began pressuring her to marry him. Just a week before the tragedy, he allegedly threatened her: “Main tujhe kahin ka nahi chhodunga (I’ll completely ruin you).”
Neha had confided in her mother about the threat. On the morning of the incident, she went to the terrace to wash clothes and asked her mother to switch on the water pump.
“Moments later, I heard shouting—people yelling, ‘Catch him! Catch him!’ I saw Taufiq running away, dressed in black. He had disguised himself again,” her mother said. “We had told him to treat her like a sister. He refused to listen.”
Now, the family mourns the loss of their daughter while demanding justice. The man they once welcomed into their home as a brother figure turned into her alleged killer. As police continue their manhunt for Taufiq, Neha’s devastated parents await closure—grappling with grief, betrayal, and an unbearable void.
