New Delhi: A series of brutal ‘road rage’ incidents with food delivery riders at the centre has brought a new kind of street conflict to the fore. The latest casualty was 36-year-old Shivam Gupta, who died two weeks after a midnight altercation with two delivery workers in Connaught Place.
The confrontation took place in the early hours of 3 January near Rajiv Chowk Metro Station in E Block. Police told ThePrint that the dispute began when Gupta, who was returning from a party, brushed against the handle of a motorcycle. The argument escalated quickly, and the two men allegedly assaulted Gupta with a helmet before fleeing the scene; police said the men were not on duty at the time. Gupta was left bleeding on the pavement. He succumbed to his injuries on 19 January.
While the Gig and Platform Service Workers’ Union has condemned the violence, it also pointed to the increasingly hostile conditions faced by gig workers, whether at the workplace or out on the road.
“The incident is wrong, and cannot be justified,” said Nirmal Gaurana, national coordinator of the Gig and Platform Service Workers’ Union. “But it is also a by-product of a pressure cooker environment. Delivery workers operate under extreme time pressure, fear of penalties, constant surveillance through apps, and regular harassment on the roads.”
The Connaught Place killing is part of a broader spike in street violence involving delivery gig workers. In January, a government doctor in Gurugram was arrested for allegedly running his SUV over a Swiggy agent following a parking dispute. That same month, a delivery executive in Mayur Vihar was stabbed to death after a minor argument. In October 2025, a 24-year-old delivery worker died after a car rammed into his scooter during another road rage incident.
“The workers are constantly at risk too,” said Sanjay Gaba, national president of All India Gig and Platform Workers’ Union. “Murder is murder, and what happened in Connaught Place is wrong. But investigators must also understand the environment in which the incident took place.”
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‘Unchecked anger has irreversible consequences’
Police said the exact sequence of events leading to Gupta’s death is still being pieced together.
“The accused hit the victim with helmets and fists after the argument, and fled,” a senior police officer said. “We have arrested the two individuals and are examining CCTV and forensic reports to establish the sequence of events.”
Both accused have been sent to judicial custody, with an FIR registered under Section 110 (culpable homicide) and Section 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
“The deceased had multiple episodes of haematemesis,” the FIR said.
Gupta’s father, Anil Kant Gupta, has said that the family has seen CCTV footage of the night of the attack, which showed Shivam lying unconscious on the road as his friend stood nearby. Help only arrived after a PCR call made at around 1.30 am on 3 January. Gupta was taken to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital, where doctors declared that he was not fit to give a statement due to his head injuries.
For Gaba, the hair-trigger reactions of the accused delivery workers is symptomatic of a structural malaise.
“Bike touch hui, ya tu-tu-main-main hui, the environment was created in such a way that it led to violence,” he said. “Unchecked anger has irreversible consequences, for the victim, and the accused.”
(Edited by Asavari Singh)