19-year-old falls to his death from terrace of south Delhi eatery

NEW DELHI: A 19-year-old youth, the son of a former Manipur minister, died under mysterious circumstances after falling from the fourth floor

terrace

of My Bar Grill restaurant at

Hauz Khas Village

in south Delhi on Saturday evening. Police have registered a case of culpable homicide on the claims of foul play by the youth’s family.

Sources said the youth, M Sidharth Singh, had gone to the restaurant alone. Restaurant staffers were alerted when someone found him lying in a pool of blood. He was taken to Safdarjung hospital where he died during treatment.

“We are yet to ascertain how the youth went to the terrace of the restaurant and what led to his fall,” said DCP (south) Ishwar Singh.

Around 3.30pm, Singh asked his driver Ram Singh to drop him at the restaurant. CCTV footage showed him going towards the terrace instead of entering the restaurant on the third floor. A few minutes later, locals heard a thud and found him lying in the courtyard.

“We found blood flowing out of his mouth and nose. He had hit a plastic shed during the fall,” said Sunny, a worker at a nearby restaurant.

“The security guards told us about the incident. We are scanning CCTV footage to see how he reached the terrace. The door usually remains locked,” said Surendra Kumar, manager, My Bar Grill. He added that CCTV footage showed him staggering up the stairs. His phone was found on the stairs near the restaurant entrance.

Singh’s family friends said that he never smoked or consumed alcohol. “He had called his father around 12.30pm and told him that he was going to the restaurant for lunch. His father asked him to take some rest afterwards as he had been out since 9am,” said a family friend.

Doctors who conducted the autopsy said that Singh had multiple fractures on the shoulder and collar bone and had severe internal bleeding.

Cops found that the terrace can only be accessed by security guards. However, it seems someone opened it and allowed him to enter. There are no CCTV cameras on the terrace. Probe is on to find out if the restaurant had served liquor to Singh as he was below the legal drinking age.

Sources said that the case may be transferred to the Crime Branch. Police have taken CCTV footage from 25 restaurants in the area to see if he had visited any other place and if anyone had accompanied him.