Noida restro-bar death case: 7 arrested, autopsy shows head, spleen injuries

Seven people were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the death of a 30-year-old private firm executive after a brawl at a restro-bar in a Noida mall.

Noida:Seven people were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the death of a 30-year-old private firm executive after a brawl at a restro-bar in a Noida mall, officials said. A total of nine people have been found involved in the violence, of whom one is unidentified. Of the remaining eight persons, seven have been arrested on the basis of evidence, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Noida) Ranvijay Singh said.

Efforts are on to arrest the remaining two accused, he said. The deceased Brijesh Rai had gone for a party with his colleagues to the Lost Lemons restro-bar in the Gardens Galleria Mall on Monday evening where they got into a fight with the local staff over the bill, the officials said. The bill stood around Rs 7,400 with Rai and his colleagues objecting to being charged some additional amount for the services, leading to an argument that soon escalated into a fist fight, they said.

"The post mortem report showed Rai's cause of death as head injury, spleen rupture and liquid in stomach," a police officer said, citing the autopsy findings. Additional DCP Singh had on Tuesday said that an FIR has been lodged in the case at the local Sector 39 police station and 16 people were in police custody over the case. The FIR has been lodged under IPC section 302 (murder), the police said.

According to the police, of the nine accused most are employees of Lost Lemons, while two are private security officials of the Gardens Galleria Mall. The restro-bar has already been sealed in order to prevent any tampering with the evidence, the officer told PTI, adding the police is thoroughly analysing CCTV footage gathered from the spot. Meanwhile, a video surfaced on social media purportedly showing Rai's wife Pooja reprimanding her husband's colleagues and asking them to leave the hospital where the body was taken.

In the video, she also questioned the colleagues what was the need for them to get into a fight over a bill and what kind of "friends" they were to have landed Rai in trouble. "Frankly, I was always against friends like you all. Friends who got sloshed and lost consciousness. Today, the same friends have got him killed and now you show like you are family. Families are not like this, neither are friends like this," she told the colleagues. Rai lived in Sector 76 of Noida with his wife, a school teacher, and two children aged five and three. Further investigation in the case in underway, according to the police.

PTI