The victim, Aman Hussain, is in critical condition at All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi (Aiims).

The incident occurred at 4pm on Saturday near Sanjay Camp, Trilokpuri, when a group of men was playing cricket while another group was playing gilli-danda nearby.

Yash Dutt, 22, from the cricket group, allegedly approached the gilli-danda group and asked them to leave, according to a police complaint filed by 19-year-old Rashid Ali, a friend of the victim.

“Dutt urinated near where we were playing. When we complained, he hurled communal slurs and asked us to leave. My friend, Aman Hussain, intervened but they got into a heated argument,” the first information report quoted Ali as saying.

The FIR added, “After the argument, the accused came and started beating Hussain. They then picked up their cricket bats and thrashed Hussain. He tried to escape and was running outside the park when they again caught hold of him. One of them stabbed Hussain while the other was assaulting him with a bat. We tried to intervene and rescue our friend.”

Police said that the motive behind the assault was “sudden provocation after communal remarks were passed by accused to victim”.

Ali said that the accused fled after a crowd gathered at the park. An e-rickshaw driver rushed Hussain to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital. Hussain was later taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre where it was found he was stabbed in the abdomen, said deputy commissioner of police (east) Abhishek Dhania. A case of attempted murder was lodged on Saturday. The FIR said that the victim was stabbed on his left chest and was injured in the head.

Dhania said, “We lodged a case immediately and sent a team to various places in Trilokpuri to trace the accused. On Sunday, a team traced Dutt’s location and caught him in the area. The cricket bat was also recovered. The motive behind the assault was sudden provocation after communal remarks were passed by accused to victim.”