Capital rage: This city has a history of gruesome crimes (With Airlines pilot crushes man in Delhi’s Khan Market)

NEW DELHI - The timing could not have been more ironical. Just when a moving “No One Killed Jessica” was reminding everyone about the ruthless murder that took place in 1999 over a peg of liquor, Capital rage has reared its head again, with two men being killed over trivial incidents.

Both point to the cheap value of human life in the capital.

In probably the capital’s first brush with road rage this year, a man was mercilessly crushed to death Tuesday. The incident saw an airline pilot, drive over a restaurant manager four times. The victim’s crime? His car scratched past the airline pilot’s speckless Ford Ikon.

In an equally astonishing incident, four people killed a 17-year-old man Monday after he denied them a screwdriver at a shop.

And this is not the first time there has been a flare-up over a trivial issue; the history of rage and Delhi goes a long way.

Just last month, a plate of chicken tikka claimed a young life. A software professional in Rohini was shot dead in cold-blood after he accidentally knocked down a plate of chicken tikka.

In another monstrous crime last year, a 42-year-old driver of a chartered bus was mercilessly stoned to death because a restless bunch in a Qualis could not overtake the vehicle.

If that didn’t leave you disgusted enough, there’s more.

According to Delhi Police statistics, a number of murders in 2010 were committed over frivolous issues.

The reasons are as stupid as they come. They range from denial of a cigarette to not getting a particular brand of liquor. It doesn’t matter how silly the reason may sound, Delhi went for the kill every time.

Some other issues included filling water from community taps, objecting to urinating in front of someone’s house and bursting fire crackers at a marriage party.

At a local cricket match, things flamed up so much that it cost someone his life in Mangolpuri. In two other shocking cases, murders were committed over a bidi and over refusal to part with a cigarette.

In August 2007, a doctor is east Delhi was thrashed by two men as his car accidentally banged into their vehicle.

In April last year, an engineer was badly beaten up because he refused to make way for a Mercedes in Delhi’s posh Vasant Kunj.