Thar hit-and-run: Grief instead of celebration on victim’s 34th birthday, says father

Thar hit-and-run: The date June 27 was meant to mark a celebration for the Mattoo family, but instead, Surendra Mattoo spent what would have been his son Sarthak’s 34th birthday mourning a loss that he believes could have been prevented.

Just two days earlier, Sarthak Mattoo, an employee of an event management company and a resident of Gurugram, was killed in a hit-and-run near the Rajokri flyover in southwest Delhi after a Thar allegedly rammed into his motorcycle and fled the spot.

For the 66-year-old father, one memory has become impossible to shake off — the expensive helmet he had bought for Sarthak and the promise he had extracted from him.

“I got him a very expensive helmet and made him promise that he would always wear it so he remained safe. He was wearing the helmet, yet it couldn’t save him. Now what do I do?” Surendra Mattoo told PTI.

The grieving father believes his son could have survived had the driver stopped to help instead of fleeing.

“He was travelling from DLF Gurugram to Noida for official work at around 6.30 am. At Rajokri flyover, a Thar took a sudden turn and hit him. The least the accused could have done was take him to the hospital, but he just ran over him and left him to die,” he said.

According to him, it was a passerby who witnessed the accident and rushed to help Sarthak.

“By God’s grace, his phone was unlocked. The man checked the call logs and called one of Sarthak’s office colleagues. They then informed us. By the time we got to know, he had died,” Mattoo said. “He could have been saved if the accused had not fled and had immediately taken him to the hospital.”

The family’s last interaction with Sarthak was an ordinary one, which has now become their final memory of him.

“We couldn’t even see him in the morning because he left for work without waking us up. His mother usually checks on him every morning. We realised he had already left because his bike wasn’t there,” his father recalled.

The grief has been especially unbearable for Sarthak’s 60-year-old mother.

“She is inconsolable. She keeps asking me to bring our son back. What do I tell her? I can’t do anything,” he said.

The couple works at a private organisation as consultants after retirement, and Sarthak was their only child.

The family belongs to the Kashmiri Pandit community and had moved to Delhi in 1984 in search of a better future.

“It had already been difficult for us to leave our home and come here. Now my only child has also been taken away from me. Mera jawan beta chhin liya (My young son has been snatched away from me),” Mattoo said.

Now, he says, justice is the only thing he can fight for.

“I expect nothing less than justice. I want the accused to be behind bars and not be granted bail immediately. I will move pillar to post to make sure my son gets justice,” he said.

Police on Saturday arrested 30-year-old Apurv Singh in connection with the case. According to police, the Thar involved in the accident was traced during the investigation and seized. The accused was arrested after questioning, and further investigation is underway.