Family in shock, loses two sons in four years
TRAGEDY Victim’s brother had died in a car accident in UP in 2014; family rules out foul play, says they don’t want to spoil the boy’s future and career
NEW DELHI: The death of 23-yearold Prashant Chauhan in a case of ‘accidental’ firing is the second tragedy in his family in the last four years.
Prashant was killed on Thursday evening after his cousin accidentally shot him with his father’s gun i n south Delhi’s Sarita Vihar.
The incident took place when Prashant’s cousin was posing with the licensed gun while the victim was trying to take his photograph.
Prashant, a teacher in east Delhi’s Shahdara, was visiting the boy and his family when the accidental firing took place at the second-floor flat around 5.30 pm.
The accused — a Class 11 student at a private school in Jasola near Sarita Vihar — was apprehended.
Prashant’s relatives said his elder brother Amit Chauhan too had met with a tragic end when he died in a car crash in in February 2014 in Meerut.
The deaths of their sons have left Prashant’s parents devastated.
The relatives, who were present at the AIIMS mortuary to claim his body after autopsy, said his mother is grief-stricken and is not ready to believe that two of her three sons were dead.
On February 2, 2014, Prashant’s brother Amit was returning home with two of his friends in a Honda Civic car after attending a friend’s engagement ceremony in Meerut. They were travelling late on a foggy night.
“Amit’s friend, who owned the car, was behind the wheel when the car crashed into a road divider while trying to avoid a collision with another vehicle. The three friends had died by the time they were rescued and taken to a hospital,” said Veer Singh, Prashant’s uncle.
Another relative Shivam Chauhan said Amit was the same age as Prashant when he died in the car crash. The local police had then informed the family about Amit’s death.
Amit worked at a private hospital in Delhi. Prashant’s father Rajkumar Chauhan is a farmer while his mother is a housewife. The couple is now left with one son, Sumit Chauhan, who is a government school teacher in Delhi and the only bread winner in the family.
Asked if they suspected any foul play, the relatives said, “We know the boy and his family members. It was just an accident. We don’t want to spoil the boy’s career by pursuing the matter further,” added the uncle.
Police later said that they will book the juvenile’s father under the Arms Act.