A 24-year-old delivery executive in Delhi died on October 20, more than two weeks after he was allegedly assaulted during a dispute over a torn ₹10 note, with police arresting two men and adding abetment of suicide provisions to the case.
Sameer Hussain had called the police control room at about 11.03pm on October 4, alleging that two residents assaulted him in East Vinod Nagar after he refused to accept the damaged note as payment for a delivery. The incident was linked to a coffee order placed for an elderly customer, according to the account reported by the Times of India.
During the investigation, Sameer described the dispute in a video. He said the customer took about 10 to 15 minutes to arrange the payment before handing over cash that included a torn ₹10 note. When he objected, the customer allegedly told him to “take it or leave it”. Sameer said he offered to cancel the order and questioned why it had been placed if the payment could not be made properly.
He alleged that the customer abused him before another man arrived and slapped him several times. According to the report, Sameer also said the man mocked him over his middle-class background. The allegations are part of the police investigation and have not been independently tested in court.
Police later received information that Sameer had allegedly consumed a poisonous substance. He was admitted to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital on October 5 and died there on October 20. A medico-legal case was prepared shortly after midnight on October 5, and an FIR was registered the same day at Kalyanpuri police station.
Following his death, police added Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita to the case. The provision deals with abetment of suicide. Police identified the two arrested men as Rakesh alias Bunti, 30, and Rampal Singh, 65.
The case brings into focus the vulnerability of delivery workers who operate at street level across Delhi’s residential neighbourhoods and depend on quick, low-value transactions to complete orders. In this instance, the reported dispute began over a small denomination note but escalated into an alleged physical assault and a police case. The investigation will determine the sequence of events, the circumstances surrounding Sameer’s death and the legal responsibility of those arrested.
The police case remains ongoing. Further proceedings will depend on the investigation into the alleged assault, the hospital and medico-legal records, and the charges added after Sameer’s death.
