Did you witness the incident or know any of the men involved? Call 02077824351 or email abe.hawken@thesun.co.uk
Emergency services were called to the triple murder on Elmstead Road around 7.30pm on Sunday.
One victim was knifed in the neck, shoulder and chest, and another battered round the head with a hammer in a savage brawl between two groups of men.
Cops have arrested two men, aged 29 and 39, on suspicion of murder.
The Sun Online understands the three victims and two suspects were involved in a brawl at a wedding reception at the nearby Krystel Banqueting venue on Saturday night.
Police confirmed the altercation spilled out onto the street outside, which remained cordoned off by police yesterday.
Sources close to the victims say they had been involved in a row over unpaid construction work and detectives are urging anyone with information to come forward.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Considine, who is leading the investigation, said: “We now believe all those involved were known to each other and from the Sikh and Hindu community, however we are still in the process of identifying the men and working to inform their next of kin.
“At this early stage, I do not believe this was gang or race-related. But, I believe there may have been an ongoing dispute between those involved. We believe the five men were involved in an altercation the previous evening at Krystel Banqueting that spilled out onto the High Road.
“I would encourage anyone in the local communities who knows what the motivation for this attack was, or to anyone who may have seen an altercation late on Saturday evening at Krystel Banqueting, or the incident itself on Salisbury Road, to contact us and tell us what they know.”
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‘THEY KILLED ME, HELP ME’
Police said in a statement all three men were confirmed dead at the scene, with an eyewitness hearing one victim shouting, “They killed me, help me”.
A local businessman said violence erupted over unpaid work in the area after a group left a local Indian restaurant and bumped into the victims.
He told Mail Online: “The argument was all over money for unpaid work. That happens a lot around here because we have a lot of immigrants from India who work as builders.
“They started arguing inside the restaurant and were very drunk. They had been drinking whisky for several hours.
“The row was all over some of the group being angry at the others over the fact that they had not been paid for a job.
“The argument then continued as they came out of the restaurant.
“You could hear lots of screaming and shouting and then all hell broke loose with one of the men pulling out a knife and attacking the others.”
Jasbal Singh, the brother of Narinder – Nik – Singh and a close pal of Mr Kumar, found all three men lying on the ground.
The heartbroken brother told the Evening Standard: “I got a call saying my brother had been stabbed. I went there and just saw him laying there. 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 said his murdered relative was ‘a lovely, fun guy’ and was best friends with Narinder Singh.
He said: “They both worked as builders and had only been in the country for about three years. Sunday was Harinder’s one day off in the week.
“He knew all the other men that were there when he was killed. They all worked and socialised together.
“They’d been out drinking like they normally do on a Sunday. I’ve heard that they got into a row over money.
“Some of the family got a call on Sunday evening saying Harinder had been attacked.
“They rushed down there but couldn’t get close as the police had sealed the area off.
“They were screaming and shouting his name but the police were holding them back. Its heartbreaking what we are all going through.”
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London mayor Sadiq Khan visited the scene of Sunday’s slaughter, calling the killings ‘a tragic reminder of the evil scourge of knife crime that continues to plague our entire country’.
One witness told The Sun Online he saw one man running from the scene of the attack with a cricket bat.
He said: “They were all lying, a few steps apart and covered in blood.
“There was one man staring, eyes to the floor and not moving soaked in blood.
“I saw a few guys running away from the scene and a man carrying a cricket bat.”
He added the cricket bat was thrown to the floor, where it appeared to have blood on it – but it’s unclear whether the blood was from the men who had been stabbed.
Another neighbour, who asked not to be named, added: “I heard shouting, people saying ‘s***’. It sounded like people were running away but I couldn’t see anything.
“I looked outside a few minutes later and the paramedics were there, it wasn’t until later I heard people had been stabbed.”
London’s knife explosion has fuelled the capital’s highest murder rate in more than a decade with 149 people killed in the capital last year – 90 in stabbing attacks.
Westminster was the worst blackspot with 212 arrests in the last year. The borough is also the worst in the country for knife attacks.
Figures show that ten people on average are caught with blades every day on the streets of London.
One of the reasons why violence in the capital has spread is because of the brutal “county lines trade” where urban dealers force children and other vulnerable people to take drugs to customers in more rural areas.
In London itself, gang warfare is increasingly being driven by a ruthless battle to control the drugs market in a move away from “postcode wars”.
Anyone with information is asked to alert police on 101, quoting CAD6374/19JAN or @CrimestoppersUK 100% anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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