Three Sikh men stabbed to death in east London yesterday have been identified as builders from India who died after a drunken row over unpaid work turned violent.
Narinder Singh, 26, Harinder Kumar, 22, and Baljit Singh, 34, were stabbed to death and found covered in blood near Seven Kings station in Ilford at around 7.30pm on Sunday.
One was stabbed in the neck, shoulder and chest, while another was discovered having been smashed in the head with a hammer.
Witnesses heard one of the victims shouting: ‘They killed me, help me!’ as friends and relatives rushed to the devastating scene.
A local businessman said the men were knifed to death after a large group of Indian men spilled out of a nearby restaurant, screaming and shouting in a furious drunken argument between two groups.
He told MailOnline the men had been drinking whisky all afternoon and an argument had broken out over work in the area.
Speaking at the scene today, police said they believe the deaths were the result of a fight between two groups of Sikh men. Two men, aged 29 and 39, were today arrested on suspicion of murder.
Today a nearby park was sealed off so investigators can scour for evidence.
More than a dozen forensics officers, with two dogs, were seen combing South Park, Ilford, following the horrific murders.
Victim Narinder Singh’s brother Jasbal told the Evening Standard he rushed to the scene after being told his brother and his best friend Harinder Kumar had been attacked.
Speaking to the paper, he said: ‘There was blood everywhere. I shouted ‘Wake up, wake up’ but it was no good. I had lost him. He was a great brother and a popular guy with no enemies. I am devastated.’
‘I have lost not only my brother but a best friend I lived with. I don’t know how this could have happened. We were so close, my heart is broken.’
Mr Kumar’s cousin paid tribute to him in an emotional statement.
Sukhjinder Banga, an electrician, said of the eldest victim Baljit Singh: ‘He was well known around here and had been in Britain for quite a few years.
‘I’ve done a few jobs with him in the past but didn’t know him that well. I’m not sure what his full name was, he was just known as Bally Singh.
Police were scrambled to reports of the stabbing in Elmstead Road, Seven Kings at 7.38pm on Sunday.
A police forensics tent was erected in nearby Salisbury Road, where one of the victims was found at the foot of the stairs.
Scaffolder Louis O’Donoghoe was watching the snooker when he heard screaming and shouting outside his house in what he said sounded like a foreign language.
The 40-year old said: ‘It was just chaos, absolute chaos. It was like something out of a movie. Horrific.
He saw the ambulance service working on one person, and then realised there were another two bodies, at which point he went outside to see what was going on.
‘I could see it all, one (body) to the left, two at the bottom of the stairs.
‘It was like a bad day in Bosnia. It was pretty horrific really. I’ve never seen anything like it to be honest. It’s like something on a movie.’
He said his girlfriend was left ‘distraught’ by what happened and he had come home from work early to be with her.
Gulsham Modhu, 41, whose terraced home overlooks the scene, was ‘surprised’ to come home to find police on the scene and the street cordoned off.
He said: ‘I’m shocked, three people have died. This is a residential area – it’s scary.’
Another neighbour, who asked to be called Saad, said: ‘It’s scary but I’m not so scared for myself – I’m mainly scared for my children.’
Former professional boxer Wadi Camacho shared a short video of the aftermath of the incident, tweeting that one of the dead men was ‘bleeding from his neck’.
In a follow up tweet, Mr Camacho said: ‘Trust me they are gone. The (man’s) eyes fully open not moving and bleeding from his neck. Bloody everywhere.’
He also implored his followers to be careful if they were in the area.
Scotland Yard Chief Superintendent Stephen Clayman told reporters at the scene this morning: ‘It was a coming together of two groups of men.
‘Three men were fatally stabbed, and despite best efforts of paramedics at the scene, they were pronounced dead at the scene. So, a devastating incident.’
Detective Inspector Tim Lindley, of Leicestershire Police, said: ‘This was an act of violence against a child in the street with his mother. It happened in a residential area at a time when there would have been people about. We need to find who was responsible.’