Nido Taniam, a 20-year-old Arunachal Pradesh student who was in Delhi for a holiday, was found dead in his room on Thursday after he was allegedly beaten by a group of men in the crowded commercial locality of Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi the previous day. Amid outrage two days on, the police have registered a case of murder.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has asked for a report and is believed to be considering a magisterial inquiry into the incident.
Here are the latest updates on this story:
Nido Taniam, a first-year student studying in Jalandhar and the son of a parliamentary secretary, had come to Delhi for a 10-day vacation. He reportedly went to Lajpat Nagar with two friends on Wednesday afternoon and stopped at a confectionary shop to ask for directions, when someone allegedly began mocking him. Nido's family says a few men made fun of his hair.
Nido allegedly asked the men to apologise and a fight erupted, in which he allegedly broke a glass at the shop. A group of five or six local men then allegedly beat him with sticks and iron rods.
The police were called in and they reportedly handed over the students to their relatives. Nido's family alleges that the police struck a compromise and left.
Nido Taniam returned to his room in Green Park Extension after the fight. His family says he never woke up the next morning. They allege that he died of his injuries from the brutal beating, but it is yet to be confirmed. "We don't know the cause of death yet," said Karunakaran, the area's Deputy Commissioner of Police.
The police have detained a man who was allegedly involved in the fight. "We were not laughing at him. He broke a glass," he said.
North-east groups have condemned the incident. "After the Khirki incident, people from North-East have been feeling scared. He broke a window... that does not mean six people thrash him. Why did the police drop him back to that place and not where he lives?" questioned activist Binalakshmi Nepram.
Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) once again blamed the Delhi Police, saying the force should be held accountable for lawlessness in Delhi. "Instead of passing the blame, Delhi Police should take action against the offenders," said AAP member Dilip Pandey.
Angry tweets have been directed at AAP, which has been criticised for its policy of encouraging people to catch wrongdoing and for standing by a minister, Somnath Bharti, who had conducted a vigilante-style "raid" in Khirki Extension in his constituency, targeting African nationals on the suspicion that they were involved in a drugs and sex racket.
Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley tweeted, "The death of a North East student in NewDelhi after being beaten up is barbaric and condemnable. Such incidents do not help us as a Nation." His party MP Tarun Vijay said he was meeting police chief BS Bassi along with Arunachal Pradesh leaders.
Though Nido's friends have alleged that it was a racist crime, Arunachal Pradesh MP Mukut Mithi cautioned against the labeling, saying, "I would not call it a race attack. Everyone in Delhi is not racist."
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