NEW DELHI: “Mar gaya, mar gaya tera bhai gir gaya” (He is dead, your brother has fallen down). These were the words Durga Sharma kept repeating over the phone to her younger son, Deepak (45), after his elder brother, Pawan Sharma, became unconscious following an altercation with a father-son duo over seats reserved for senior citizens on a Delhi Metro train on Oct 8.Pawan’s family had been planning to celebrate his 49th birthday on Nov 2, with Deepak preparing a surprise for his elder brother. Instead, the family is now grappling with his death, which Deepak alleges followed an argument with the two men.
Row over seats reserved for senior citizens
On Oct 8, Pawan and his mother, Durga (65), were returning to their Yamuna Vihar home after visiting Deepak, who was unwell, in Gurgaon.Sanjay Pratap Singh, a retired IAS officer, and his son, Sidharth Singh, both residents of Noida, boarded the train at Mandi House. According to police, an argument broke out over the seats where Pawan and his mother were sitting.According to Durga, the two rudely asked them to vacate their seats. “We got up, and my son told them they could now lie down on the seats. The older man grabbed Pawan by the collar and slapped him. When he objected, the man’s son assaulted him. When I tried to intervene, the older man restrained me,” she said.Deepak said his brother had already given up the seat but was still subjected to rude remarks. “My brother had given up the seat but was still subjected to rude remarks by the other party.”
‘He had already died by the time I reached’
When the train reached Supreme Court metro station around 5.47 pm, Pawan became unconscious, police said. He was rushed to LNJP Hospital, where he was declared dead.Deepak said he called his mother back after hearing her distressed voice on the phone. She told him she was taking Pawan to hospital in an ambulance. He then spoke to the ambulance staff, who asked him to reach the hospital.Pawan was no more by the time Deepak arrived. “My mother was fainting. The hospital staff did not tell her, but when I reached there, I was told that he had already died,” he said.Deepak alleged that his brother had been punched in the chest during the altercation. “Pawan was not an aggressive person. He was a family man and never fought with anyone.”
Family loses sole breadwinner
Pawan’s death has left his wife and two children without their primary financial support. His 19-year-old son is in the first year of college, while his 15-year-old daughter studies in Class X. Pawan worked as a clerk and was the sole breadwinner for the family.After their father’s death, Pawan had taken responsibility for the household, becoming the family’s main support. He had hoped to give his children a better future, Deepak said. “But now, everything is over.”
Father-son duo arrested
Police recorded Durga’s statement and registered a case against the father-son duo under Sections 105 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), relating to culpable homicide not amounting to murder and acts committed with common intention.Both men were arrested based on evidence collected during the investigation and remanded to 14 days of judicial custody.
