Youth brought to death after he stopped a man for smoking
Two youths were hit by a car yesterday in South Delhi, after they objected a man for smoking in public. The tiff over smoking in public happened when the youths, both in 20s, were in the vicinity of AIIMS on September 17 to film a documentary on pavement dwellers.
The motorist mow downed the youths, who were on a bike at the AIIMS flyover in south Delhi, leaving one of them dead and the other with an injured leg.
A quarrel ensued and people intervened, following which the duo left. “Rohit Krishna Mahanta abused them. A resident of Defence Colony and from Assam, he later chased the two and rammed his Ford Figo into their motorcycle, dragging it for more than 100 metres, and then hit an autorickshaw and a cab,” a police officer said.
Gurpreet Singh, 21, a student of photography, succumbed to severe head injuries on Wednesday. His friend Maninder Singh is bound to a wheelchair after a surgery on his leg.
The accused, Rohit Kumar Mahanta, who was drunk, was booked for murder and arrested on Wednesday night after police recorded Maninder's statement. Maninder said the argument began when he and Gurpreet objected to Mahanta blowing smoke at them at an eatery.
Maninder told the police that he and Gurpreet had gone to AIIMS to finalise locations for a project on nightlife on Delhi's footpaths. The youths were studying photography at a private college. They stopped at a parantha shop near Safdarjung Enclave for a bite. The accused Mahanta, a resident of Defence Colony was also at the same shop.
"The man came smoking a cigarette and started blowing the smoke on my face. When Gurpreet protested, the man started abusing us and said we land up in the city from nowhere and start behaving as if we own the place," Maninder said.
"There was an altercation but we backed off as people there said the man was drunk. They advised us to leave the place rather than extend the fight," the youth said.
As they drove off in their Enfield Bullet motorcycle, Mahanta allegedly followed in his Ford Figo car. He rammed the bike from behind at great speed, dragging the two-wheeler for a distance before crashing into an Ola cab and a rickshaw. Mahanta then reversed and fled, Maninder said.
-PTC News
