Punjab student dies in road rage after objecting to smoking in public

New Delhi, September 21

A young man hailing from Punjab succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday while his friend remained critical after both were run over in a road rage case by an inebriated man in south Delhi three days ago, police said.

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Police said Gurpreet Singh, 21, and his friend Maninder Singh, 22, students of a photojournalism institute, had gone to scout for a location for a documentary near the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) late Sunday night.

Having scoured the place for shooting a documentary titled 'Night life of footpath people in Delhi', Gurpreet and Maninder were standing near a roadside eatery when they had a heated exchange with accused Rohit Krishna Mahanto after he began smoking near them, police said.

"Rohit abused them and hurled anti-religious remarks. Rohit, a resident of Defence Colony and a native of Assam, also threatened to kill them. He later chased Gurpreet and Maninder in his car and rammed their motorcycle, dragging it for more than 100 metres before hitting an auto-rickshaw and a cab," a police officer said.

Gurpreet and Maninder were admitted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre, where Gurpreet succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday.

Initially, police said, it appeared to be a road accident since Rohit too was injured along with Gurpreet and Maninder, who were unfit to give statements.

"We registered a case against the accused on the basis of the statements of the drivers of the cab and the auto-rickshaw," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Chinmoy Biswal said.

"We have recorded Maninder's statement afresh and added additional sections of the Indian Penal Code against Rohit," Biswal added.

A constable has been deployed outside Rohit's room at Apollo Hospital where he is under treatment. "Once he is medically fit, we will arrest him," the officer said.

Gurpreet Singh hailed from Bathinda and had come to Delhi to pursue a photojournalism course here and stayed in west Delhi's Shahbad Dairy area.

Gurpreet's sister Harpreet Kaur alleged foul play and said the Delhi Police initially tried to protect Rohit and did not mention his name in the first information report. She said the family forced the Investigation Officer in the case to add an attempt-to-murder charge since it was a road rage case.

—IANS