Scientist Dies After Neighbour Assaults Him During Parking Row In Mohali

A 39-year-old scientist working at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Mohali, has died after a parking dispute near his rented home in Sector 67 turned violent. Dr Abhishek Swarnkar had an altercation with neighbour Monty on Tuesday night and the latter allegedly pushed him to the ground and punched him.

Originally from Jharkhand's Dhanbad, Dr Swarnkar was a distinguished scientist whose work was featured in international journals. He worked in Switzerland and had recently returned to India and joined IISER as a project scientist. The scientist had recently undergone a kidney transplant and his sister had donated him one of her kidneys. He was on dialysis. Following the assault, he was rushed to a hospital where he died.

Dr Swarnkar lived in Mohali's Sector 67 with his parents. A CCTV camera shows some local residents, Monty among them, standing near his bike. Abhishek then walks to the two-wheeler and starts removing it. An argument follows and Monty pushes Dr Swarnkar to the ground and starts hitting him. Their families intervene and pull Monty away. Dr Swarnkar is seen on the ground before other neighbours step out of their homes.

The scientist's family has demanded strict action against the accused. Police said they had registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and were scanning the CCTV footage to plan further action. They said the accused, Monty, is on the run and raids are being conducted to arrest him. Police are also tracking Monty's phone to track him down.

Speaking to NDTV, the IISER scientist's mother Malti Devi narrated the harrowing events on Tuesday night when she lost her son to a mindless brawl. Accusing Monty and his family of harassing them over parking, she said, They regularly bothered us, don't park here, don't park there. He (Abhishek) returned from IISER (that night) and parked his bike. They asked him to remove it and there was an argument. My son came upstairs. And they shouted, 'We will blow up the bike'. I told them, 'It is in front of you, blow it up'. My son got agitated. My husband was downstairs and was talking to them. My son went downstairs. He moved his bike to show them how difficult it would be to take it out if he parked where they wanted him to," the elderly woman said.

Malti Devi said they had been staying in the neighbourhood in Mohali's Sector 67 since December 2023 and the accused Monty lived next door. "We did not know the system then, that people park right outside their homes. My son kept moving his bike from one spot to another as some or the other person asked him to. We felt harassed that no matter where the bike was parked, someone had a problem," she said. 

On Tuesday night, Dr Swarnkar told Monty and his family members that he would complain about their constant harassment over parking. "He (Monty) started shouting, 'Tu complain karega?' and pushed him hard. My son was a patient. We took him to the hospital. They said he had died," Malti Devi said.

The scientist's tragic death has yet again put the spotlight on how parking disputes in major cities are turning violent. Earlier, videos of neighbours fighting over parking spaces in Delhi and other major cities have gone viral.