Attack on Darjeeling trio - Assault in Gurgaon drunken brawl, not hate crime: Cops

TT, New Delhi, May 19: Three young men from Darjeeling landed in hospital after being thrashed by a group of local people outside their rented Gurgaon house in a case of suspected hate crime, though police claimed it was a drunken brawl that turned serious.

Several witnesses, however, said the group threatened to send the three youths to China if they didn't leave.

The assault, some nine months after two youths from Nagaland were severely beaten up in Gurgaon, took place shortly after midnight on Saturday in Nathupur DLF Phase 3, a commercial and residential zone in the Haryana city. 
Residents said the three youths - Deb Kumar Subba, Abhishekh Rai and Sagar Rai, all in their 20s - had been working in a guesthouse and stayed in the rented house.

"On Saturday night (May 16) the three were playing music inside their house when the landlord, Naresh Kumar, and his two sons objected. This led to an altercation but the matter was resolved," said a youth from the Northeast who stays nearby.

But half an hour later, shortly after midnight, Naresh and his sons, accompanied by 10 local people, came back, dragged the three out of their house and assaulted them with hockey sticks and rods.

"The landlord had asked them to stop the music, which they did. But later he came back with a group of local people and barged into their room and assaulted them. They also threatened to kill them if they didn't vacate the house," said the youth from the Northeast, who refused to give his name.

The attackers also abused the three, saying they would kill them and send them to China, other witnesses said.

So severe was the assault that the three had to be admitted to the All India Institute for Medical Sciences. Deb Kumar and Abhishekh were discharged today but Sagar, who suffered serious head injuries, is still admitted in the hospital's trauma centre.

According to the youth from the Northeast, the local police had initially refused to register an FIR, asking the two groups to resolve the matter between themselves.

A senior Gurgaon police officer said there was no racial angle to the assault.

"It was a drunken brawl between the three youths from Darjeeling and his landlord and other local youths. Both the groups were drinking together and later one group beat them up after a heated altercation over some trivial things," the officer said, adding that five persons, including the landlord, had been arrested and searches were on to catch the others.

Suresh Kumar, the officer investigating the case, said Sagar has been kept under observation at AIIMS, while others were discharged this morning.

Bandana Rai, who runs an NGO for the uplift of Gorkha people, rushed to the spot after hearing about the incident the next day. "It was nothing but a racial hate crime. How can a 20-people gang up to beat three youths? Initially, the police also did not help much," she said.

A resident recalled that two young men from Nagaland were severely beaten up in Gurgaon in October by a group of local people who asked them to leave or risk being killed.

The two were assaulted a day after three young men from the Northeast were thrashed by taxi drivers in Bangalore, apparently because they couldn't speak Kannada, and told "this is India, not China".

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung said: "I am deeply troubled. I have spoken to the GJM unit in Delhi and they are monitoring the situation on our behalf. All necessary help will be given to the youths. I'll speak to home minister Rajnath Singh too."