Caterer dies after thrashing at wedding, family lives under fear

NAGPUR: Two days after losing her son who was beaten to death at a wedding, 50-year-old Dalit widow Sunita Dongre is living in fear after receiving threats not to pursue the case. Swapnil, 30, a caterer who was asked to prepare fresh juices, was thrashed by people so far unidentified for walking out with a couple of leftover fruits on May 3. He died on May 10 at the Mayo hospital where he was being treated.
On Friday, the post-mortem of the deceased was performed. Lakadganj police has registered a case of accidental death as of now.
Sunita is clueless in her fight for justice after learning that some influential people are trying to shield the culprits. The name of a Delhi politician and some gangsters are apparently among those who are trying to force the cops to hush up the matter. The influential people sent word to Sunita through Swapnil’s aid that pursuing the matter will not augur well for her. After speaking to Sunita, TOI pieced together what happened on May 3.
Swapnil had a tiff with some persons at the reception programme of the Waghela family at Patidar Bhavan at Quetta Colony. After taking permission from someone to carry fruits for his grandmother, Swpanil picked up a few left overs.
A member of the hosts’ family spotted Swapnil leaving with the fruits. He confronted and slapped him. Swapnil retaliated following which he was pinned down by other guests who showered blows on him. Sources claimed the catering contractor Raju Pandey was present at the site.
A badly injured and shirtless Swapnil was brought to his Sahyog Nagar home by a friend identified as Durgesh at 3am. Swapnil did not tell anything to his family. On May 4 morning, he developed pain in the chest. Sunita and his sister Ashwini rushed him to a private clinic.
When Swapnil’s pain aggravated the following day, his family took him to Mayo where doctors did not admit him. After being in pain throughout the night, he was again taken to Mayo on May 6 morning. The doctors then performed a surgery and shifted him to the ICU the next day as Swapnil’s condition deteriorated. He was declared dead on May 10.
Sunita said Mayo doctors told her that Swapnil had serious internal injuries which could have developed only after being beaten up. “When doctors decided to alert the police, Swapnil told me about the humiliation he had to face. He was unable to give a statement to the police but whatever he could share was recorded by the doctors and myself, which was later conveyed to the police,” she said.
A social worker, on the condition of anonymity, said a Kamptee-based gangster had started pressuring the witnesses and their family members against giving any statement which might put the wedding guests in a tight spot.
Senior PI Santosh Khandekar said the CCTV footage of the incident is not available with the management of the venue but he intends to gather evidence from the eyewitnesses regarding the incident. “We are waiting for the post-mortem report,” he said.