31 January,2014 05:50 PM IST | | Agencies
Boy's family has alleged that he was beaten to death by a shopkeeper and his friends
New Delhi: In yet another incident of targeting of people from the North-East India, An Arunachal Pradesh MLA's son died in New Delhi after he was allegedly beaten up by some shopkeepers following an altercation sparked by their taunts on his hairstyle.
Nido Taniam, son of Congress MLA and Parliamentary Secretary in Health and Family Welfare Department, Nido Pavitra, died on Thursday, police said.
Taniam, a BA first year student of private university, had gone to Lajpat Nagar with his friends on Wednesday last and was looking for an address when a person at a sweetshop started mocking him. Following this, fight erupted between them during which Taniam was assaulted with sticks and rods by eight men. Taniam died of injuries in his room in Green Park Extension on Thursday.
His relatives alleged that he had an altercation with some shopkeepers in Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi on Wednesday after they made fun of his hairstyle, following which they allegedly thrashed him.
Some locals intervened and the quarrel was stopped after which Taniam came back home. However, his condition suddenly deteriorated yesterday after which he died under suspicious circumstances, his relatives claimed.
"His postmortem has been carried out in AIIMS. The cause of death would be clear only after the autopsy report. There was some altercation he had on Wednesday, we are investigating the case," a senior police official said.
A youth claiming to be his cousin told a TV channel, "This is surely about racism. Everybody in Delhi discriminates against us based on our looks. We are living in India, but we don't know whether we are actually living in India or not.. every time we are discriminated against.
"His family has been informed," he said.
