Sakshi, who was stabbed and bludgeoned to death by a youth in northwest Delhi's Shahbad Dairy area, recently passed her Class X exams and wanted to become a lawyer, her father said on Monday.
The victim had gone shopping on Sunday evening for the birthday party of her friend's child when she was accosted by the accused in the densely populated neighbourhood, stabbed her over 20 times and hit her with a cement slab repeatedly.
"She called me recently that she has passed her Class X exams and wanted to become a lawyer. She was the eldest among two siblings," said Sakshi's father Janak Raj, who works as a labourer.
Police said the victim and the accused, 20-year-old Sahil, were in a "relationship" that had turned sour and the two had a fight on Saturday.
However, Raj said he did not knew anything about the accused or whether anyone was disturbing his daughter.
"We never heard about the accused. Sakshi told us about her friends, but never about Sahil," he said.
"We want capital punishment for the accused who brutally killed our daughter," Raj said.
The family was in intense grief and pain as the 16-year-old's mortal remains were cremated Monday evening.
The mother of the deceased, watching helplessly as the pyre was lit, said, "We had our dinner and were planning to sleep when Sakshi's friend Bhawana knocked our door on Sunday around 9 pm. She informed us that someone has killed Sakshi. We did not believe her words and I called Neetu, who told me that Sakshi had gone to market. We rushed to the spot and saw our daughter lying there in a pool of blood."
"We met a person in the hospital who said he was there at the spot and tried to save their daughter, but he was also attacked by the accused," she said.
An elderly woman, who witnessed the Sunday's incident, said, "People gather near our house every evening and have liquor or drugs. When we try to disperse them, they abuse us and threaten us. They are not scared of anyone. The Sunday incident was very unfortunate and the accused should be punished for his act."
Vivek Choudhary, a local, said the heard about the incident through news.
"The atmosphere in our locality has changed. Several anti-social elements are roaming here. I have seen the CCTV footage of the incident and it was very unfortunate that no one came forward to save the girl," he said.
Delhi Police said the accused was arrested from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh on Monday.
A nearly 90-second video of the incident that was shared online showed the accused pinning the victim to a wall with one hand and stabbing her repeatedly. He did not stop even when the girl slumped to the ground, jabbing the knife into her over 20 times, kicking her and then slamming a cement slab on her repeatedly.
In the early hours of New Year, Anjali Singh was killed after her scooter was hit by a car, which dragged her for 12 kms in the Sultanpuri area. Her body was found in Kanjhawala area. Several videos of the incident were circulated on social media.
A 24-year-old man strangled his girlfriend, stuffed her body inside a refrigerator of his dhaba (eatery) in southwest Delhi, and went off to marry another woman the same day, was also among the gory incidents of brutal killings in the last few months.