A 21-year-old photographer lost his life and his friend was critically injured after they objected to a man smoking publicly in South Delhi's Safdarjung area. After the argument, the accused man Rohit Krishna Mohanto, who was drunk, first rammed his car into the motor-cycle — the duo were travelling on — and then an autorickshaw and a private cab.
The accused has been taken into custody. He was arrested from Apollo hospital where he was being treated for his injuries after the incident. Police say that they have charged him with Section 302 (murder) and various sections of the Motor Vehicle Act.Gurpreet Singh and his friend Maninder Singh both students of photography were searching for spots in the National Capital for their photography project "Life of people on footpath."On September 17, early morning around 4 am the two had an argument with Mohanto over him blowing smoke on their faces. This was when the incident occurred and the two were deliberately hit.
While Maninder is under treatment and on a wheelchair with injuries to his legs, his friend Gurpreet Singh succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday. Maninder revealed that they were looking for 'shoot-sites' near AIIMS and Safdarjung hospital.
"We were sitting on our bikes and having paranthas and chai when this man in a drunk state came and blew the smoke on Gurpreet's face. We told him we do not like all this and that he should smoke on the side, to which he started arguing. He then asked us that did this have anything to do with our religion. He questioned us and said 'If you don't like all this then why do you come to Delhi? If this would have been Assam then you would have been killed and no one would know as well,' he said. We ignored everything and sat on our bike,"said Maninder.
He added,"I was conscious but Gurpreet had fainted. With the help of another man I put him in an auto-rickshaw and headed for the hospital. While we were crossing we saw an auto-rickshaw had turned turtle and a private cab was hit as well. He was coming out of his car after hitting the two vehicles and I realised it was the same man that we had, had an argument with."
Earlier, friends and family members of Gurpreet had been demanding justice for the victim and have even started an online campaign, 'Justice for Gurpreet.' Gurpreet hailed from Bathinda and the family was demanding that the case not be treated as an accident case but as one of deliberate murder, hence sections relating to murder should be added as well.
Mohanto had passed out of Jindal University in 2015 and is a practicing lawyer. He was working as standing counsel for the Assam government. Police officials also revealed that Mohanto's father works as a visiting professor at IIT, Delhi.
Death by chance
Gurpreet Singh and Maninder Singh were searching for spots for their photography project. On September 17, early morning around 4 am the two had an argument with Mohanto over him blowing smoke on their faces. This was when the incident occurred and the two were deliberately hit.
