Delhi violence: Scrap dealer ventures out for work, returns injured; dies later

A 60-year-old ragpicker, who went to collect scrap early Friday morning in northeast Delhi only to be brought back home with serious head injuries, succumbed while being taken to a hospital, his son said in what appears to be a fresh case of violence.

Ayub Shabbir lived in Nasbandi Colony in Loni, Ghaziabad, bordering Delhi, with his 18-year-old son Salman Ansari, who is differently-abled, and used to earn Rs 300-400 daily dealing in scrap.

"I had cautioned my father against going out today but he said that the situation is normal now and we cannot stay inside for long and not earn anything," Salman said, sobbing.

"I have no one now. What will I do," he asked. His mother had left them when he was a child, taking his young brother along with her.

Salman claimed his father had survived an attack on Thursday when he had ventured out.

"He was saved by some elderly men on Thursday morning. Today, he left very early when I was sleeping. Around 6 am, two men brought him home on a scooter. He had serious head injuries. The two men said they found him lying in an area between Shiv Vihar and Karawal Nagar," he said.

Salman claimed his father told him that some people asked him his name and religion and then hit him.

However, his father did not mention how many people were there or who hit him," he said.

"I offered him tea but he didn't have it. When I called the police, they arrived but did not help me in taking my father to the nearby dispensary.

"I had to take him on a cart to a nearby nursing home where he was given first aid and stitches. But I was told that they were not equipped to treat him further as the injuries were severe," Salman said.

He then shifted Ayub to GTB Hospital in an autorickshaw.

"He was not saying anything during the autorickshaw ride and I think he was dead by then," he said.

The communal violence in northeast Delhi sparked by protests over the amended citizenship law has claimed at least 42 lives and left over 200 people injured.

Frenzied mobs torched houses, shops, vehicles, a petrol pump and pelted stones at locals and police personnel. Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Babarpur, Yamuna Vihar, Bhajanpura, Chand Bagh and Shiv Vihar are among the areas severely affected by the riots.

After the Friday prayers in mosques in northeast Delhi, a delegation of peace committee members met senior police officers, including special commissioner (law and order) S N Shrivastava, at the office of the DCP (Northeast) in Seelampur and apprised them that no untoward incident has been reported from anywhere in the region.

Parvez Mian, a peace committee member and president of the All India Milli Council Delhi state, said the delegation also apprised the police officers, including Joint CP Alok Kumar and DCP Northeast Ved Prakash Surya, that the situation had been improving in the past two days.