A former call centre employee from Manipur was beaten to death in south Delhi late last night, allegedly by a group of five or six men, in what a central minister said seemed like a “pre-planned attack.”
Three people have been detained by the police and are being questioned.
Shaloni – a man in his late twenties who was once employed at in a Business Process Outsourcing company or BPO but was currently unemployed – was strolling with two friends in Kotla Mubarakpur on Sunday night, when a group of men drove up in a white car and assaulted him, the police said.
His friends reportedly fled and called the police at about 3.30 am.
The police said when they reached the spot they found a badly injured Shaloni. They took him the trauma centre at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences or AIIMS, where he was declared dead.
Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said the post-mortem is being conducted by a four-member panel of doctors. “It seems like a pre-planned and unprovoked attack. The Home Ministry will probe the death,” the minister said, promising quick action by the police.
A case of murder has been registered. The police seized a CCTV camera from the area for its investigation.
Shaloni, who lived in Delhi’s Munirka, was a Naga man from Tonjoy village in Manipur’s Senapati District.
Earlier this year, Nido Tania, a 20-year-old student from Arunachal Pradesh died after being beaten with iron rods and sticks by a group of men in a market in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar, not far from where Shaloni dies.
Nido’s death had led to street protests and a national debate on discrimination against Indians from the North East. Mr. Rijiju said, “It is a matter of great concern for all of us that such an incident has happened in the capital.”
