In a shocking incident of road rage, a 33-year-old man, Mohammad Shahnawaz, was beaten to death by five people after his motorcycle grazed a car in Central Delhi’s Chandani Mahal area late on Sunday night. The incident led to blockade of roads by angry residents till late on Monday evening and police and paramilitary forces were deployed to keep the situation under control. The incident took place around 11.30 pm when the victim was returning to his house at Mata Sundari Road after visiting his parents who live near Turkman Gate.
As he reached Noor-e-Ilahi Masjid, his motorcycle brushed a Hyundai i-20 car. An eyewitness told The Pioneer that two men got out of the car and started abusing Shahnawaz, who was accompanied by his two sons-Fahad (13), Kaif (10) and a five-year-old daughter, Talbia. Three men astride a scooty also joined the occupants of the car in abusing Shahnawaz. Then to the horror of the children, the five men began beating up their father. They thrashed Shahnawaz for over ten minutes in front of a police booth but none, not even the police, came to his rescue. Shahnawaz was whacked so badly that he died on the spot.
Shahnawaz’s children kept on pleading with the assailants to spare their father but their pleas fell on deaf ears. Unable to get help from the policemen in the police booth, a desperate Fahad ran to the Turkman Gate police post and requested the cops to help his father but the police did not intervene. As news of the incident spread, angry residents blocked Asaf Ali Road, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg and also tried to attack the house of the prime accused Amin Pehalwan, who is a resident of Turkman Gate.
Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi said that they have arrested one assailant Mohd Wasim and police teams are working on leads to arrest the others who are absconding.
Recalling the horrifying events that led to his father’s death, Fahad told The Pioneer: “When my father asked them to stop using abusive language, they started beating him up badly. I tried to intervene but they slapped me. I pleaded with them to stop but they kept beating up my father with sticks.”
Apart from the police, Fahad also asked the people at the spot to help but they did not come to the family’s aid. “Then I asked my younger brother Kaif to go home and inform the family,” he added. By the time Shahnawaz’s family reached the spot, it was too late. “We rushed him to the nearby lNJP Hospital but doctors declared him brought dead,” said Shahnawaz’s aunt. Shahnawaz worked as a scrap dealer of electronic items and lived with his wife Farzana and three children at Mata Sundari Road in IP Estate area.
Police said that the accused, who have all been identified, are residents of Turkman Gate and were returning after attending a wedding in East Delhi’s Seelampur area. After the incident, people gathered at the spot and attacked the house of Amin Pehalwan and tried to torch vehicles, parked outside his house. They also blocked roads and the blockade continued till Monday evening, leading to traffic jams at Delhi Gate and Darya Ganj.
They held a protest and demanded strict action against the accused. They also lambasted the police for its inaction during the incident. The locality turned into a fortress with the heavy deployment of police personnel including paramilitary. The victim’s family named Amin Pehalwan, Mohd Wasim, Badshah Khan, Jamaluddin Sheikh, Kamaluddin, Shafiq Sheikh, Nizamuddin Sheikh and Hazi Jalaluddin, as accused. They said the accused belong to the same family and are builders by profession. They enjoy political patronage and often fight with the residents over petty issues but the police does not any take action.