‘He wanted to earn a lot of money and help us’: Family of Delhi man beaten to death on Holi; locality on edge

On Friday morning, at the entrance to Tarun’s house, women sat on the ground with their heads covered, crying, as relatives moved in and out. At the mouth of the lane, opposite a small Shiv temple, is the sprawling two-storeyed house of the accused family. Its iron gate was locked. No one from the family, who are from a minority community, was visible.

Tarun’s relatives and residents protested against the Delhi Police, accusing them of not acting quickly enough. (Express photo by Vidheesha Kuntamalla)

The tension in the locality was palpable. Police barricades had been placed at both ends of the lane, between the temple and Tarun’s home, while a large deployment of police personnel and other forces stood guard.

By afternoon, the atmosphere in the lane had grown volatile. Tarun’s relatives and residents began protesting against the Delhi Police, accusing them of not acting quickly enough.

Protesters also raised slogans of “Har Har Mahadev”. Outside the locked house of the accused family, a car was found burning. The flames were eventually extinguished by a Delhi Jal Board water tanker that arrived at the spot.

Another group of people also gathered near the Uttam Nagar Metro Station and blocked the road from both sides. Police later managed to clear the road after assuring them that proper action would be taken against the accused.

Memraj said there had been tensions in the neighbourhood earlier as well. Recalling a past dispute, he claimed the accused family had once been involved in a confrontation during which his brother-in-law was slapped. “When they fight, they call others and it becomes a big fight,” he said.

Police had said the dispute arose after the victim’s 11-year-old cousin threw a balloon filled with water and Holi colour from the terrace of a house towards her relative. But it hit the ground and the water splashed on the clothes of their neighbour.

The woman, Tarun’s family alleged in their police complaint, hurled abuses and left before returning with her relatives. A fight broke out.

The accused’s family later spotted Tarun when he was returning home and allegedly beat him up with rods, leaving him injured on the road.

According to the police, four people have been arrested while a juvenile has been detained. “The victim’s family has alleged that around 20 people were involved in the assault on Tarun. With the help of CCTV footage, teams are trying to identify the other accused,” a police officer said.

 ‘Wanted to design houses’

Tarun had grown up in the same neighbourhood. Memraj said he, too, had been born there and lived in the area for decades. The family shared the cluster with Memraj’s brothers and their families in a joint household arrangement.

Tarun was the middle child among three siblings — two sons and a daughter. “He was such a good boy,” said Memraj, who worked in a whitewash business in the same neighbourhood. “When I looked at his face, my heart would be at rest.”

Tarun had studied at Puja Public School, a private institute in the area, pursuing Commerce in Class 12. He did not attend a traditional college degree but enrolled in short professional courses instead.

For a while, he travelled to West Delhi to attend a digital-related course but the Covid pandemic disrupted those plans.

Over a year ago, Tarun had enrolled in an interior design course in Dwarka. “He would wake up around 10-11 am and go to his class. He would then go to a gym nearby his class and come back home by night… this was his daily routine…,” said Memraj.

Tarun did not yet have a steady job. Memraj said he gave him around Rs 6,000 a month for expenses. “I am not very educated,” he said. “But I know that Tarun used to study hard… he would go to the library…”

“He wanted to design houses,” he said.

“He also loved going to the gym,” Memraj added. His diet reflected that discipline. “He liked boiled chicken and eggs,” his father said.

Since childhood, Tarun had been fond of good clothes and dressing well, something that stood out in the neighbourhood and made him noticeable. Sometimes, my son would talk about the way people looked at him. “He would say, ‘Papa, people look at me differently… maybe they feel jealous,’” Memraj said.

His father would brush the comment aside. But Tarun believed he would eventually leave the narrow lanes behind. “He used to say he would earn a lot of money and take care of us.”

What his father wanted for him, however, was simpler. “I did not want him to earn a lot of money,” Memraj said quietly. “I just wanted him to eat well and dress well.”

For some residents, the violence revived memories of earlier skirmishes. “This is not the first time something like this has happened here,” said Chatrapal, a resident who runs a chole-bhature stall in the colony. “Two or three years ago, there was a similar clash on Holi where people from two different communities fought right here.”

Another resident, Nand Kishore Kohli, 46, said he had known the accused woman’s family through her brother. “He was my friend. He used to dye clothes. He died about five months ago,” said Kohli.