Never had a gun pointed at me, says man threatened by ex-BSP MP’s son at Delhi hotel

A quiet dinner at a five-star hotel in south Delhi turned out to be a harrowing experience for Gaurav Singh and his friend on Sunday. They found themselves at the mercy of a gun-wielding man in the hotel’s porch. Left shaken, Gaurav said the assault and abuse unfolded despite his best efforts to defuse the situation.

Gaurav, the son of a three-time former legislator from Delhi, said he felt so threatened that he decided not to report the matter to the police. “I have never had a gun pointed at me. I did not even know how to react to such a situation,” said Gaurav, a Delhi-based businessman.

He said he repeatedly asked Ashish Pandey and his friends to leave them alone throughout the confrontation.

Gaurav’s father, former MLA Kanwar Karan Singh, said, “We are traumatised. Gaurav is my only son and I am scared for him. I have rushed him out of Delhi after the matter was highlighted in the media,” said Kanwar, who had been a Congress MLA from Model Town constituency from 1998 to 2013. Kanwar said the family would consult their lawyer and look into options about how to approach the case.

By Tuesday night, police officials had convinced Gaurav to pursue legal action in the case.

However, the first information report, on the basis of which police are investigating the case, was filed on a complaint by the Hyatt Regency hotel’s assistant security manager.

Gaurav said he had gone to the hotel to have dinner with a woman friend. He said she felt sick after having some soup, so he had accompanied her to the washroom.

As he waited outside the washroom at around 3am, he said three women who appeared to be drunk went inside the washroom and started hurling abuses at his friend. “I could hear them bullying and abusing my friend inside the washroom. I decided to call the hotel staff to assist my friend,” Gaurav said.

“They went on to abuse me too, but I didn’t retaliate and told them I did not want a fight,” he said. He claimed that he tried to usher his friend away from the commotion and back to the restaurant when Ashish allegedly confronted them in the hotel’s porch.

Ashish was carrying a gun and appeared to be ready for a fight, he said.

“He said he would shoot me. I asked him to go home and not to escalate the matter. I tried to explain to him that there was no reason for a fight. I honestly didn’t know how to react in the face of a gun,” said Gaurav.

He credited one of Ashish’s male friends for trying to intervene. “One of Ashish’s friends approached me and told me that they were drunk and advised me not to react,” said Gaurav.

The video of the altercation shows the same friend trying to pull Ashish away from the confrontation.

Gaurav said he glad that he did not have his hands in his pockets at the time of the confrontation. “He could have thought that I too have a gun and could have actually shot me,” said Gaurav. “No one wants this to happen in their lives. I just want to keep a low profile and go on with my life,” he added.