Arunachal Pradesh student dies after fight in south Delhi market

Nido Taniam, an 18-year-old college student from Arunachal Pradesh, was found dead in his room on Thursday after he was allegedly beaten by a group of men in the crowded commercial locality of Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi the previous day.

His friends allege it was a racist attack. The police have detained one person but no FIR or formal complaint has been filed so far.

Here are the latest updates on this story:

1. Nido Taniam, a first-year student, had reportedly gone to Lajpat Nagar with two friends on Wednesday evening and was looking for an address, when someone at a confectionary shop allegedly began mocking him. According to a member of the Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union, Nido was teased about his hair.
2. Nido allegedly asked the men to apologise, and a fight erupted, in which he allegedly broke a glass at the shop. A group of five or six local men then allegedly beat him with sticks and iron rods.
3. The police was called in and they took the three students away, but inexplicably dropped them back at the same place after a while. Nido was allegedly caught by the men and beaten again, say sources.
4.  Nido Taniam went to his home in Green Park Extension that night. His family says he never woke up the next morning. They allege that he died of his injuries from the brutal beating and doctors confirmed it.
5. The police have detained a person from the shop where Nido was allegedly beaten. He has denied that anyone made fun of the student.
6. The police say they will wait for a report of the post-mortem conducted today at the AIIMS hospital before filing an FIR, or a police complaint.
7. "After the Khirki incident, people from North-East have been feeling scared. He broke a window... that does not mean six people thrash him. Why did the police drop him back to that place and not where he lives?" questioned activist Bina Lakshmi.
8. Angry tweets were directed at Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, which has been criticised for its policy of encouraging people to catch wrongdoing and for standing by a minister, Somnath Bharti, who had conducted a vigilante-style "raid" in Khirki Extension in his constituency, targeting African nationals on the suspicion that they were involved in a drugs and sex racket.
9. The AAP once again blamed the Delhi Police for the incident, saying the force should be held accountable and brought under the state government.
10. Though Nido's friends have alleged that it was a racist crime, Arunachal Pradesh MP Mukut Mithi cautioned against the labeling, saying, "I would not call it a race attack. Everyone in Delhi is not racist."
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