New Delhi: Salman Khan was driving through the lit boulevards of India Gate and Connaught Place around midnight, killing time before his next pickup. He came to a sudden halt after a noisy crowd drew his attention in CP. In the middle of the road lay a young man, unconscious, blood oozing from his body.
“I was shocked to see that so many people had gathered and no one was doing anything,” said 26-year-old Khan, recalling the incident from 3 January, when 36-year-old businessman Shivam Gupta was beaten by two delivery agents with helmets. Gupta, who suffered grievous injuries to his head and was undergoing treatment, passed away on 19 January.
“He just lay there in a pool of blood while people kept clicking photos and recording videos,” Khan told ThePrint. “I was appalled. The first thing I did was call the police.”
He added that the police arrived with an ambulance within 10 minutes and began interrogating him.
“They asked me for my Aadhaar card and whether I knew anything. I told them I didn’t,” he said.
The police told ThePrint that the delivery agents and the victim were allegedly drunk when an altercation broke out between them. Based on CCTV footage of the assault, the Connaught Place police station has registered an FIR under Sections 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and Section 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The two accused have been sent to judicial custody, and the police have launched a manhunt for the third accused.
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‘Wanted to explore’
Khan, a resident of Panipat, works as a pickup driver and drives a Bolero, loading and unloading goods for a transport company. On the night of 3 January, he was scheduled to collect cloth packages from Noida but had a few hours to spare before the pickup. He decided to drive around India Gate and Connaught Place.
“I had heard that CP and India Gate look beautiful at night. So, I wanted to explore that before my next pick up,” Khan said.
The police said Khan was the caller and had arrived at the scene after the assault. “Like a sensible citizen, he tried to save a man by informing the police,” said an official.
Gupta was rushed to a government hospital, and his family was informed. “The deceased had multiple episodes of hematemesis,” the FIR said.
“As a driver who is always on the road, I come across several accidents. For me, this was just another one. Maybe I can’t save the person, but I can inform the right people who can,” said Khan.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)