21 year old biker, who is a photography student was killed while his friend seriously injured near the AIIMS Trauma Center in South Delhi on Sunday. The reason, Rohit Krishna Mahanta, a lawyer by profession, rammed his car into the duo after they objected to him smoking and blowing smoke in their direction as they were all having parathas at a nearby stall. Mahanta was drunk and did not take kindly to being told that they were all Sikhs and smoking was against their religious beliefs.
The two students, Gurpreet Singh and Maninder Singh were on a project to photograph a documentary on the lives of outstation patients and their relatives and hence were at the AIIMS hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning. Having completed their shoot they stopped for a snack just outside the hospital where they encountered the drunken lawyer.
Following the angry exchange of words, the duo got on their bikes and left but Mahanta followed them in his Ford Figo car and rammed into their Royal Enfield motorcycle from the rear. Such was the speed of the car that it also hit an autorickshaw and an Ola cab that were in front of the bikers. Mahanta then turned around and fled the scene.
The two youths were immediately taken to the AIIMS Trauma Center by people on road. At the hospital, Gurpreet was admitted in the ICU with severe head injuries. He succumbed to these injuries on Wednesday. Maninder is out of danger but undergoing treatment.
Based on the statement of the Ola cab driver, the Police have registered a case under Section 279 – rash driving and 337 Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others against Mahanta. He was later released on bail but now murder charges have been levied against him after the victim died.
