Man dies after assault by restaurant bouncers in Amritsar

A group of friends had gone to the restaurant to celebrate New Year and had asked its staff to serve food which led to the incident; seven, including hotel owner, booked

A 32-year-old man who had gone to a restaurant in Amritsar to celebrate New Year on December 31 and was assaulted by its bouncers died on Friday , Amritsar police said.

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The deceased was identified as Harjit Singh alias Raja, son of Makhan Singh and resident of Guru Ram Das colony, here at Sultanwind Road.

In his complaint, Navdeep Singh, resident of Sudarshan Nagar at Sultanwind Road, said, he and four friends, including Harjit, had gone to Social Heights—a restaurant at Ranjit Avenue here—on December 31 to celebrate the New Year. As we had already paid money to the restaurant, so we asked the staff for some food around 2.30am, he said. “The staff denied the same claiming the restaurant was closed, which led to argument,” Navdeep said.

“They pushed us out of the restaurant and bouncers attacked us with weapons. We all received injuries while Harjit was grievously hurt in the assault. As we raised alarm, the accused fled threatening us not to disclose the matter. We rushed Harjit to a private hospital, who had suffered severe head injuries, but he died during the treatment on Friday,” said the complainant, adding that the bouncers attacked us on the directions of the restaurant owner.

A case has been registered against Deya and Happy, bouncers at Social Heights, restaurant owner Amar Khurrana and four unidentified bouncers under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) and 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Ranjit Avenue police station.

“The post-mortem of the deceased has been conducted and body has been handed over to the family. Further investigation is on and efforts are being made to nab the accused bouncers. We will also investigate the role of restaurant owner in the incident,” said assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Sukhdev Singh, adding no one has been arrested so far.