Chongtham Vikram Singh, a 54-year-old guitarist and music teacher from Manipur, died early on Monday, hours after he was allegedly beaten by a group of men inside the building where he lived, in Kilokari village, southeast Delhi. The assault followed a confrontation after Singh objected to a late-night disturbance outside his rented flat on Sunday.
Police said Singh, a private music teacher who had lived in the capital for about 17 years, came down from his third-floor flat around 11.30 pm on Sunday, reportedly to throw out the garbage. Downstairs, he found a group of men, said to work at two nearby dhabas, drinking and creating a disturbance. Words were exchanged after Singh asked them to quieten down, and the situation turned violent.
Manipuri social activist B Ruchida Sharma said the men followed Singh back to his flat, caught him in the third-floor corridor and attacked him before running off. His son, Yaiphaba, a 20-year-old law student, said he heard his father shouting and pounding on the front door, calling out “Thong hango! Thong hango!”, Manipuri for open the door. When he opened it, he found Singh barely conscious, his shirt torn to shreds. Yaiphaba’s police complaint also alleged that some of the men had threatened his father once before, after an earlier noise complaint.
Singh was rushed to Holy Family Hospital in Okhla, where his blood pressure had dropped too low for doctors to operate. He died during treatment around 7 am on Monday.
A distress call about the assault reached Sunlight Colony police station at 1.38 am on Monday. Police registered an FIR under Sections 103(2) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, covering murder by five or more persons acting together on grounds such as race, caste or community, and offences committed with common intention. Seven men, Bharat Kumar (19), Pramod (26), Ramzan Khan (22), Vijay (36), Deepanshu (21), Mohan Vishwakarma (32) and Mannu (26), were arrested, and a 15-year-old boy was apprehended. Police said most of the accused worked as delivery or packaging staff at the dhabas, and one at a pizza outlet. Visuals said to show the men leaving the building after the assault have since circulated widely online, including one shared by former Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh.
Delhi Police said the circumstances and motive behind the assault were still being ascertained. “Necessary legal action is being taken as per law,” police said, adding that further facts would come out during the investigation. A post-mortem was conducted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
Singh’s death has drawn sharp political reactions and renewed concern over the safety of people from the Northeast in Delhi. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, wrote on X questioning what the Union home ministry and Delhi Police were doing about “growing lawlessness, especially against people from the Northeast,” and asked whether Northeast families in the capital could consider themselves safe. Former Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh said he was “deeply saddened” by Singh’s death and called on Delhi Police to investigate swiftly and ensure justice. Manipur chief minister Khemchand Yumnam said in a statement that Singh’s “valuable contribution to music and the cultural life of Manipur will always be remembered.”
The North East Students’ Society, Delhi University, and the North East Media Forum condemned the killing and called for a fair, thorough investigation. The Forum said it was troubled by “growing reports and incidents of targeted violence” against people from the Northeast in the capital, and insisted that investigators must not rule out a racial or identity-based motive. Outside the Sunlight Colony police station, members of the Northeast community and civil society groups held a sit-in, insisting that everyone involved in the attack be traced and punished. Manipuri associations in the capital said that even though the post-mortem had been completed, they wanted to hold back sending the body home to Manipur until the case reached a conclusion. Police say they have yet to establish a racial motive, and that the investigation is ongoing.
In the northeastern state, Singh had built a name for himself in the western music circuit before he relocated to Delhi, playing lead guitar with bands including Ultra Vires, Phoenix and Eastern Dark. In Delhi, his work took him to the Rock’n’Roots project, where he performed alongside the Rajasthan-based folk musician Mame Khan, and he took part in various concerts and cultural events with other artists over the years. He also ran a small music school of his own and had taught for years at the Delhi School of Music.
Music runs in the family: Singh’s 86-year-old mother, Chongtham Ongbi Kamala Devi, has her own standing as a singer of both classical and contemporary Manipuri music. His 96-year-old father, Dr Chongtham Birendra Singh, has not been told of his son’s death; his brother Vivek said the family feared the shock would be too much for the elderly man, and that their mother remained inconsolable. Singh was also related to filmmaker Lakshmipriya Devi, his cousin, whose film Boong became the first Indian production to win a BAFTA award.
He is survived by his wife, Jyotsana, who holds a senior consulting role at a multinational firm, and their son, Yaiphaba.
