Family of man who ‘smashed bottle’ on head says he was murdered after brawl

“Feeling Amazing, Full Enjoy”, Deepak Tandon, 30, posted on his Facebook page while partying at a pub in south Delhi’s Hauz Khas village.

This was just hours before he died after he reportedly smashed a beer bottle on his head.

Tandon, a bouncer from Ludhiana and the youngest in the family, had come to Delhi with his two friends to celebrate the New Year.

His family members refuse to believe he was drunk and smashed the bottle on his head. They say he was murdered.

Deepak’s father Gulshan Tandon told HT that he had last spoken to his son around 6 pm on Saturday. Tandon worked as a designer in a newspaper.

“Deepak’s friends had a brawl and they were kicked out. Around 10 minutes later, they saw Deepak coming out of the pub, covered in blood,” he said. Tandon was the youngest and is survived by his two elder sisters Deepika, Reena and parents Gulshan and Kiran Bala.

The family on Monday filed a police complaint alleging foul play and demanded a fair investigation.

On Monday, a minute-long clip shot on a mobile phone surfaced on social media. It shows Tandon being persuaded by the cops and locals to get inside the PCR van to go to the hospital.

The video shows Tandon’s face and chest covered with blood. While a crowd of onlookers gather around Tandon, he is seen manhandling a cop and another unidentified man while refusing to get inside van.

Around 8.39 pm on Saturday, Tandon on his Facebook wrote ‘Feeling amazing. Full Enjoy’. There are other posts about his trip to Delhi with his three friends. Other photographs in his Facebook profile show him with his friends at Central Park in Connaught Place, hours before he reached Hauz Khas.

Read: Man dies after smashing beer bottle on his head at south Delhi pub

Chinmoy Biswal, additional DCP (south), said the family alleged that the victim was beaten up by the club bouncer and manager before the incident took place. “All allegations will be verified once the post mortem result is out,” said Biswal.

Police said Tandon had come to Delhi to celebrate the New Year with three friends. They went to a pub at Hauz Khas village together on Saturday evening when the incident took place. Tandon was allegedly drunk, police said.

Tandon’s family members were informed about his death. He worked as a bouncer at marriages in Ludhiana occasionally, said police.

Tandon’s younger sister Reena told police that her brother had a fight with the club authorities, after which the he was murdered. Police said the CCTV cameras have not been of much help because most were non functional.

“My brother Deepak had come to Delhi with his two friends Anmol and Vicki. Anmol and Vicky told us that they had a fight with the club employees over the choice of songs. The bouncers asked them to leave the pub. There was a scuffle with the bouncers. Vicky also sustained a nose fracture. He remembers the incident. We are taking his body back home. Police said they are awaiting post-mortem report,” said Deepak’s cousin Prince Tandon.

Biswal said Deepak’s friends claimed they weren’t with him when Deepak allegedly smashed the bottle on his head.