Delhi youth lured home with false alarm, beaten to death in Holi mob attack

NEW DELHI: Sunita, the mother of Tarun Butolia, said:”They called my son and told him we were being beaten up. He came to save us, but they were waiting for him.” Tarun (26) was killed on March 4, the day of Holi. A neigbourhood spat over playing with colours turned deadly that day. Tarun was allegedly beaten to death by some neighbours. The violence has a communal tone to it as the alleged attackers and those attacked are from different communities.

Sunita said Tarun had left home for a Holi party when he got a phone call that made him return to Uttam Nagar. The caller told him that his parents were under attack. Alarmed, Tarun sped back on his bike to the narrow lane where his family lives. There was mayhem in the neighbourhood, and the mob seemed to be waiting for him, his parents told TOI.Another troubling detail that has emerged is that several locals had pleaded with the men to stop attacking their neighbours, but in vain.“We had locked ourselves inside the house because the mob just wouldn’t stop. They were beating our family members with rods, bats and hockey sticks. My son had nothing to do with the fight. When he came back, he was on his bike at the end of the lane while we were all trapped inside,” Sunita said. The attackers continued to hurl stones at the house and damaged the railings. “They kept throwing rocks at our windows and breaking things. Even when Tarun started bleeding and fell unconscious, they didn’t stop. They kept hitting and stabbing him,” she said. “He only came to save us. Someone deliberately called him there knowing what would happen.”Tarun’s sister Rekha remembers her brother for the ambition that defined him. “My father takes whitewash contracts, but my brother’s dreams were bigger than this colony. He studied BCA and was pursuing an online course in digital architecture and design. He created maps and house designs, imagining how houses should be built.”She said that “women, men, the elderly, everyone was pleading with folded hands, but the mob wouldn’t stop. Within minutes, over 50 people filled the lane to attack my brother for something he didn’t do. A small girl in our family unintentionally splashed a bit of water on someone. It was a child’s mistake during a festival. They targeted us. How is this fair: a child’s mistake is paid for with murder.”Tarun’s father Mamraj, who was injured, said his son fought back. “He used to go to the gym and lift weights. But seven or eight men attacked him together with rods, bats, bricks and stones. It took several of them to bring him down. Even after he slipped and lost consciousness, they didn’t stop, they kept hitting him harder,” Mamraj said.“Tarun had a lot to look forward to,” said his cousin, Rahul. “He was just waiting to finish his course so he could start a career.”When TOI checked the home of one of the accused and the neighbouring houses, they were empty. Residents said the families had fled.