Five people, including three bouncers, a nightclub manager and his wife, have been arrested after a 29-year-old driver died following an alleged assault at Tor House nightclub near Ashok Park Metro station in north Delhi, police said on Tuesday. Investigators have seized the club’s digital video recorder and are examining CCTV footage to establish what happened and whether others were involved.
The incident took place late on October 10 within the jurisdiction of Sarai Rohilla police station. According to police, Daljeet had visited the nightclub with five or six friends when beer allegedly spilled on the club manager’s wife. A verbal altercation followed, after which bouncers were called in, police said.
Daljeet’s friends alleged that the assault continued despite their apologies and requests to stop. They claimed the bouncers used sticks and glass bottles, dragged some members of the group back inside when they tried to leave, and beat them for an extended period. Sunny, one of the friends who suffered a minor head injury, told The Times of India, “We were thrashed brutally.”
The friends also alleged that three people were locked inside a room and assaulted for 30 to 40 minutes. They claimed that one of the accused brandished a firearm and that cash and two mobile phones were taken from the group. The allegations are being examined by police and have not been independently established.
Daljeet reportedly suffered serious injuries, including a fractured jaw. His friends took him home to Raghuvir Nagar after getting him out of the club. His condition later deteriorated and he collapsed near the entrance to his house. His wife, Pooja, and friends took him to Guru Gobind Singh Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Police are examining the CCTV footage to reconstruct the sequence of events, identify the participants and determine the circumstances leading to the death. Daljeet’s family has also alleged that a police control-room call was made during the incident, but that a response vehicle arrived outside the club and left without conducting an inquiry. Police are looking into that allegation.
The investigation also extends to the nightclub’s operating permissions. Records have been sought from the Excise Department and the Licensing Branch to establish whether the venue had the requisite permissions to operate late at night. The inquiry could determine whether licensing or regulatory violations formed part of the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Daljeet’s wife said he was the family’s sole breadwinner and that he is survived by her, their eight-year-old son and his father. “I want justice for my eight-year-old child and me,” she said, according to The Times of India. Police said further investigation was underway to establish the sequence of events and examine the allegations made by the victim’s family and friends.
