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New Delhi police arrested 20-year-old Sahil Khan (right) on suspicion of stabbing his girlfriend and bludgeoning her to death in public.
The incident on Sunday was caught on closed-circuit television.
The footage shows a man stabbing 16-year-old Sakshi more than 30 times before smashing her with a concrete block in an assault that lasted for nearly 90 seconds.
Sakshi was in north Delhi's Shahbad Dairy area to attend the birthday party of her friend's son.
A man attempted to intervene and was violently rebuffed by the attacker. Nothing else was done to stop him.
No one called the police and, after the killing, the girl's body lay in the alleyway untouched until it was spotted by a police informant about 30 minutes later, NDTV reported.
Police said Sahil was the victim's boyfriend. "They were in a relationship but had a quarrel yesterday," a senior police officer told NDTV on Sunday.
According to the police, Sahil decided to kill Sakshi after she tried to end the relationship.
He allegedly used a knife bought two weeks before, and had followed her from the market to the dark alley, where he attacked her.
"Sahil told us she humiliated him and passed objectionable comments about their relationship. This angered him and he decided to eliminate her," a police officer told local media.
Residents took the girl to a nearby hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival.
Soon after the murder, Sahil sat in a nearby park before switching off his mobile phone, which he threw into a drain near Gupta Colony. The phone was later recovered.
He then went to the Rithala metro station from where he took a train to Samaypur Badli and slept in a park.
The next day, he took a bus from Anand Vihar terminus to Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, where he tried to hide in his aunt's house in the city.
Sahil was caught when his aunt tried to call his father in New Delhi and the police traced it, reported Times Of India.
"As soon as the police received the information about the woman's death, Sahil's parents were detained on Sunday night," Police Special Commissioner Dependra Pathak told Hindustan Times.
"We found that Sahil had been calling them. A dedicated police team rushed to the identified location and nabbed Sahil near Bulandshahr."
Deputy Commissioner of Police Suman Nalwa told news agency ANI that Sahil "used to work as a mechanic for AC and refrigerators" and that he had no criminal record.
"During the two days he will be in our custody, we will try to gather all the evidence against him," said Special Commissioner Pathak.
"We have yet to recover the murder weapon and two police teams are looking for it. Further investigation is underway. We will ensure the maximum punishment is meted out."
The police have booked a murder case under the relevant section of India's criminal code.
According to the police report made by Sakshi's father Janakraj, the teen had become friends with Sahil a year ago. The family had warned her to stay away from Sahil as she was underage but she did not pay heed.
"My daughter was stabbed many times, her head was bludgeoned into pieces. We demand stringent punishment for the accused," Mr Janakraj told local media.
The incident has drawn sharp reactions from political leaders, including Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who criticised the capital's lieutenant governor over the law and order situation.
While Delhi has an elected local government, police and law and order matters are administered on a federal level, with the lieutenant governor being the Central government's representative for the capital.
"A minor girl was brutally murdered in Delhi. This is very sad and unfortunate. The criminals have become fearless, there is no fear of the police. Lieutenant Governor, law and order is your responsibility, do something," Mr Kejriwal tweeted.
The attack prompted outrage from activists and politicians who demanded that more be done to protect women in the capital.
Special Commissioner Pathak said the police will " secure strictest possible punishment including death penalty for the accused".
Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal told news channel News18 that passers-by did nothing because they "felt that nothing will happen, nothing will change".
"Delhi has become extremely unsafe for women and girls. I appeal to the Central government to call a high-level meeting with the Union home minister and the lieutenant governor of Delhi," Ms Maliwal said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party labelled the incident as a case of "love jihad" - that claims Muslim fundamentalists convert Hindu and Christian women to Islam through trickery, expressions of false love and even forced marriage.
"A few months ago, the Aftab-Shraddha case shocked Delhi, now this case once again warns Delhiites to be aware of love jihad," Delhi's BJP president Virendra Sachdeva told The Hindu newspaper.
He was referring to the murder of a 27-year-old woman by her partner Aftab Poonawala last year, in which the accused chopped her body to more than 35 pieces and threw them in a forest.
"It is regrettable that the chief minister of Delhi is trying to portray the brutal killing as a law and order issue, whereas it is a case of love jihad," Mr Sachdeva said.
Sunday's incident has raised the issue of women's safety in India, particularly at the hands of their partners. "There were so many people when the murder took place, but no one helped the girl. Even if they would have shouted, maybe the girl could have survived," said Ms Maliwal.
Indo-Asian News Service
