Asked not to smoke in public, ‘drunk lawyer’ kills 21-year-old Bathinda man in Delhi; arrested

NEWDELHI: Angry at being asked not to smoke in public, a ‘drunk lawyer’ allegedly rammed his car into the motorcycle of a 21-year-old photography student near the AIIMS Trauma Centre in south Delhi on Sunday.

The student, Gurpreet Singh, who was in coma since Sunday, succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday.

The lawyer has been re-arrested.

Police had initially booked the accused, Rohit Krishna Mahanta, for rash driving and causing hurt due to a negligent act and was let off on bail. But after the victim, Gurpreet Singh, passed away, the police arrested Mahanta andbookedhimunder the charges of murder.

The accused lawyer works under a standing counsel of the Assam government.

The victim’s family accused the police of ignoring the facts of the case and said the cops tried to pass it off as a simple case of accident resulting in the lawyer getting bail. However, once the victim’s friend, who was also injured in the accident, began spilling the beans on Wednesday and after the case was highlighted by media, Delhi police booked the lawyer for murder.

Gurpreet Singh, a native of Bhatinda in Punjab, had been pursuing a photography course from Delhi College of Photography in north Delhi. He lived with his classmate, Maninder Singh, in a rented home in Shahbad Dairy.

To shoot a documentary on the lives of outstation patients and their relatives, the duo visited AIIMS in the early hours of Sunday. Once done with their work at around 3.30am, they had decided to have parathas outside the hospital.

After they finished their din-

ner, they found themselves in confrontation with the ‘drunk man’.

“Themanwassmokingacigarette and blowing the smoke into our faces. The smoke not only caused us physical problem, it was also against our religious belief. So, we requested him to

avoid smoking in public,” Maninder told Hindustan Times.

But the request was allegedly met with verbal abuse and death threats. Sensing that the argument was turning violent, the two friends reportedly picked up their Bullet motorcycle and left.

They barely rode 500 metres

when a speeding Ford Fiesta, allegedly the same one that was parked next to their Bullet at the eatery, rammed them from behind outside AIIMS trauma centre. Before coming to a halt, the car also went on to hit an auto and an Ola cab, leaving both the vehicles badly damaged.