‘My Son Died In Front Of My Eyes’: Mother Of Man's Murdered In Delhi Metro

The mother of Pawan Sharma, who died following an alleged assault during a dispute over a senior citizens’ seat on the Delhi Metro, said she watched helplessly as he was beaten and collapsed.

“My son died in front of my eyes, and I could not do anything,” Durga Sharma said at the family’s home in northeast Delhi’s Yamuna Vihar as reported by the The Indian Express.

A former IAS officer, Sanjay Pratap Singh, and his son, Sidharth Singh, have been arrested in connection with Sharma’s death. The altercation took place at Supreme Court Metro station on October 8.

Durga, who is in her 70s, told The Indian Express that a man shook her son and demanded that he vacate the seat. She said Sharma questioned his tone but got up, and she also left her seat.

“I was sitting next to my son when someone shook him and asked him to get up. All my son said was, ‘Why talk like that?’ I said the same thing. My son got up and gave up his seat. I got up too. That was when the man became aggressive and hit him. When I intervened, the man held my hands and pushed me back. Things went ugly from there,” she said.

Durga alleged that the assault continued despite her cries for help.

“All I saw was my son being beaten up. I was shouting… no one came forward to help. At one point, I saw him getting choked, after which he just fell to the ground. People poured water on him, pressed his chest, but he did not get up,” she said as cited by the Indian Express.

Earlier that day, Sharma and his mother had visited his younger brother, Deepak, who was unwell, in Gurugram. Deepak dropped them at Dwarka Sector 21 Metro station around 4 pm. About an hour later, Durga called him and said, “Sab barbaad ho gaya” (Everything is over).

Deepak rushed to Delhi and reached the hospital, where he learnt of his brother’s death.

“My brother was soft-spoken. He never picked a fight with anyone. He had a small social circle, and was devoted to his family,” he told The Indian Express.

Sharma is survived by his wife, Anjali, daughter Anishka, a Class 10 student, and son Divyansh, who studies at Delhi University.

“We want justice. Those who killed my father can’t be out on the streets. They can do this to anyone else too,” Divyansh said as reported by the newspaper.

Police registered the case on October 9 following Durga’s complaint, invoking Sections 105, concerning culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and 3(5), concerning common intention, of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.