A 32-year-old e-rickshaw driver was beaten to death allegedly by a group of 20 to 25 youths after he objected to two Delhi University students urinating outside North Delhi’s GTB Nagar Metro station area on Saturday evening. The victim, Ravinder, saw a couple of men urinating outside the Metro station and objected to it, police said on Sunday. It ensued into altercation. later, the students came back in the hoards and thrashed him to death with bricks wrapped in white cloth.
“It all started with a minor altercation between two Delhi University students and an e-rickhshaw driver Ravinder outside the Gate no 4 of GTB Nagar Metro station around 1 pm. As per the eyewitness accounts, the two students had bought beer from a liquor shop near the Metro station and after consuming it, the duo was urinating on the roadside,” said a senior police officer.
Eyewitness Manoj Singh told The Pioneer that Ravinder who had parked his e-rickshaw was having his lunch. “Pissed off with two youngsters urinating on the roadside, Ravinder chided them asking them not to pollute the area as it is already dirty. Enraged that they were pulled up by an e-rickshaw driver, the duo started arguing with Ravinder. After a few minutes, both the boys left the place, threatening Ravinder that they will take revenge.”
“later in the evening, around 8, I was waiting for passengers. Ravinder too was waiting right behind me. All of a sudden, a group of 20 to 25 boys came in cars and started asking for an e-rickshaw wearing a green t-shirt.
Among those 25 youths were those two students who were berated by Ravinder in the afternoon,” said Manoj Singh, an e-rickshaw driver.
“Within a span of three minutes, the angry youngsters carrying pieces of bricks wrapped in a white cloth (gamcha) started attacking Ravinder. When I tried to intervene, they also picked up on me. However, I managed to save myself by running towards the Outram lane slum cluster, close to the GTB Nagar metro station. I went there to seek help from the locals.
“By the time, I returned back with a few locals, I saw Ravinder lying profusely bleeding on the ground. With the help of locals, we rushed Ravinder to the Bara Hindu Rao hospital. But he was declared dead by the doctors,” added Singh.
Police said they received information from the Bara Rao Hindu hospital about a man brought injured.
“We are analysing the CCTV footages installed near the liquor shop at Kingsway camp from where the two students bought beer and consumed. Their faces are visible in the CCTV footage,” said a senior police officer.
Police sources said they questioned the e-rickshaw drivers in the vicinity of the GTB Nagar metro station. “We got leads in the matter. One of the e-rickshaw drivers informed us that the two students after having a verbal spat with Ravinder had boarded an e-rickshaw and got down outside the gate of the Kirori Mal College. We sought help from the College Administration about the two students who did not appear in the examination which was held on Saturday. Out of the list of students who did not appear for the examination, we have zeroed on two students. These two students are from the School of Open learning (SOl). Natives of Sonipat and Panipat, they live in Burari area. Teams have been formed to nab them at the earliest.”
Waiting outside the mortuary of the Babu JagJivan Ram hospital, relatives of Ravinder, a resident of the Outram lane slum cluster said, “Nine days ago, Ravinder celebrated his first wedding anniversary. His wife Rani is expecting and is seven months pregnant. For a petty reason, they (the students) killed Ravinder.”
Ravinder’s family is survived by his parents, wife and his three brothers. Police said they have registered a case under Section 302 (murder) and 34 (acts done with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code at the Mukherjee Nagar police station against unknown persons.