‘They mistook him for another man’: Businessman attacked by delivery executives in Delhi dies after lying unconscious in hospital for 2 weeks

“His death has left a hole that can’t be filled,” his father Anil Kant Gupta told The Indian Express on Tuesday. “His mother is totally inconsolable. His sister and brother-in-law are still in shock,” he added.

The police and the family tried to piece together the events that led to the fatal assault. According to Shivam’s father, the three men, all delivery executives, had allegedly mistaken Shivam for someone else, picked up a fight and then attacked him mercilessly.

“After the arrest of the two accused, the police told me that during their questioning, the two men told the police that their friend had asked another man standing in that area for water. However, the man brushed them off and used abusive language. Angry at being insulted, that man called two of his friends to help him get revenge,” said Anil Kant.

The three men allegedly sped towards E-Block in Connaught Place and the main accused allegedly pointed towards Shivam, identifying him as the man who insulted him, before hitting him with a helmet. Once the victim fell, his family alleged, one of the men dismounted and stomped on his chest repeatedly before fleeing the spot.

Meanwhile, Shivam’s parents were worried back at their home in East Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar that their son had not returned from his friend’s party. “We tried calling him but his phone was switched off…when we called again, a policeman picked up the phone and identified our son. Then they told us that he was bleeding and unconscious,” said Shivam’s father. The police, the family said, checked the CCTV footage the next day and informed the family of what happened.

Shivam spent the rest of his days unconscious in a hospital before dying on January 19.

A police officer said, “We are checking the CCTV footage of the area to trace the third man. We have also registered a case against them under BNS sections 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and 3(5) (common intent).”

On January 3, Shivam was rushed to Lady Hardinge Medical College. After reviewing his head injury, the doctors advised to transfer him to RML where he could get more advanced treatment. “They conducted a CT scan and it showed several fractures on his skull…an operation happened on January 4 and the doctors told us it would take 36-72 hours for him to regain consciousness. Shivam opened his eyes for just a few minutes on January 7…after that his condition kept declining,” said his father, adding that he remained unconscious till January 19 when he passed away.

Shivam’s family remembered him as a gregarious and friendly person. An avid dog-lover, he was running a construction business with his brother-in-law. “He had a labrador he had bought from Ireland a few years back…but my nephew was very scared of the dog so Shivam helped the dog find a shelter at a friend’s house in Bulandshahr. But he loved the dog so much that he would go to Bulandshahr to meet him every few weeks and spend the whole day there. He did this practically every month till the dog died in 2024,” recalled the grieving father.