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Manipur musician's son recounts what happened before Delhi murder: ‘They were having alcohol, making noise’
Yaiphaba, the son of musician-guitarist Chongtham Vikram Singh, said that a group of people were having alcohol and making noise outside their residence.
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Hours after a Manipuri musician was beaten to death in Delhi, his son recounted the events of the night.
Yaiphaba, the son of musician-guitarist Chongtham Vikram Singh, said that a group of people were having alcohol and making noise outside their residence and his father was attacked when he went to intervene.
“My father went downstairs and asked them not to make noise because we were being disturbed. They beat him up,” Yaiphaba told news agency PTI, adding that when he opened the door, he found his father shirtless and the accused thrashing him.
Deep Dive
“Those people ran away. I took my father to the emergency room, where the doctor told us that his chances of survival were slim. Later, the doctor told us that he had died,” the son further said.
Who was Chongtham Vikram Singh?
A 54-year-old Manipuri guitarist and music teacher died in Delhi after being beaten up by some people outside his residence in Kilokari village late on Sunday. Seven men have been arrested and a minor has also been detained in connection with the case.
Vikram was a well-known guitarist from Manipur, had been working as a private music teacher in Delhi for the past 17 years. He is survived by his wife Joshna Chongtham, 50, and their 20-year-old son, Yaiphaba Chongtham.
The three lived in a third-floor flat in Kilokari, which falls under Sunlight Colony police station.
What happened during Vikram's final moments?
As stated in an earlier HT report, the musician was allegedly murdered after he raised objection to commotion and noise outside his home at around 11.30pm on Sunday.
On his trip downstairs to throw garbage, he saw a group of workers from two nearby dhabas shouting and creating a commotion, and intervened to stop them. “They chased him to the third floor, overpowered him in the corridor and rained blows on him before fleeing,” said B Ruchida Sharma, a Manipuri social activist who works with people from the Northeast in Delhi.
Deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Vineet Kumar said Sunlight Colony police station received a call about the assault at 1.38am on Monday. Chongtham Vikram Singh to a private hospital in Okhla, where he died during treatment.
Heavy police presence was seen outside Chongtham's home in Delhi as probe into his death intensified.
The incident drew big backlash online, with Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and AAP's Arvind Kejriwal condemning it. Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke also reacted to the news, saying law and order in the city had “gone to the dogs”.
The arrested men were identified as Bharat Kumar, 19, Pramod, 26, Ramzan Khan, 22, Vijay, 36, Deepanshu, 21, Mohan Vishwakarma, 32, and Mannu, 26. Police said four of them worked as delivery workers and two as packaging workers at the dhabas, while Mannu worked at a pizza kiosk.
(With inputs from Karn Pratap Singh).
