DU student’s killing: Family members yet to come to terms with the loss

New Delhi, June 19

The family members of Nikhil Chauhan, who was stabbed to death outside a Delhi University (DU) college, are still in shock and trying of make sense of the untimely demise of the young who had big dreams to make a career in showbiz.

The inconsolable parents of the 19-year-old were seen waiting outside the Safdarjung Hospital mortuary for the hospital authorities to hand over their son’s body to them after post-mortem.

VIDEO | “Two accused have been arrested. Earlier, they weren’t letting me inside (the police station for handover of Nikhil’s body) and told me not to speak to the media. Please give my son justice and arrest those guilty,” say parents of Nikhil Chauhan, the 19-year-old Delhi… pic.twitter.com/yUXD38vgVw

Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 19, 2023

In a video that has surfaced on social media, the victim’s father, Sanjay Chauhan, is seen breaking into tears outside a police station and crying for help, following which he is taken inside by a policemen.

Chauhan said his son was an aspiring model.

“I was sleeping at home on Sunday when I received a call around 12 noon from Nikhil’s friends, who took him to the hospital. I rushed to the hospital where doctors informed me about his death. I got to know that Nikhil’s friend Bunty had a scuffle with some people on June 11. Nikhil had intervened and the matter was sorted. However, when he went to attend classes on Sunday, he was stabbed,” he said.

The victim’s mother, Sonia Chauhan, was seen sitting on a bench, with her relatives trying to console her.

“My son was an aspiring model and had featured in two video albums. He recently got a call from Mumbai for a shoot, but could not go due to his college exams. He was fond of travelling and we had gone to Kedarnath around 10-12 days ago,” Sanjay Chauhan said.

Nikhil is survived by his mother, father and two brothers. His elder brother is married while the younger one, Nakul, is a Class-12 student.

Nakul said Nikhil always told him if he was involved in a scuffle, but did not say anything about the recent incident.

“He was passionate about modelling. He used to tell me even about any minor scuffle, but did not say anything about the incident that took place last Sunday. We visit Shirdi every year and had a plan to go there on June 23 as Nikhil had his exams from June 16 to 22,” he said.

The victim’s mother demanded justice for her son while waiting for his body outside the mortuary.

“He never told me anything about the fight. If I had any idea about it, I would have never allowed him to go to college. He was a brilliant student and was not scared of anyone,” she said.

Nikhil was pursuing BA (Honours) in political science from the School of Open Learning in the DU and was a resident of Paschim Vihar. He was stabbed outside the Aryabhatta College in the South Campus.

Two men have been arrested in connection with the incident.

A preliminary investigation has revealed that a student of the School of Open Learning had allegedly misbehaved with Nikhil’s girlfriend recently. After Nikhil objected to it, the accused allegedly got angry and decided to take revenge.

The victim was allegedly stabbed in the chest by four assailants near the Aryabhatta College around 12:30 pm on Sunday.

The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead.