New Delhi: Hungry for three days, Ayub Ansari, a 60-year-old scrap-picker and resident of Shiv Vihar, went out to work on Friday morning in Loni in Uttar Pradesh to feed himself and his 18-year old son, Salman. But it cost him his life.

Even as Delhi Police on Friday claimed there is calm and peace in the national capital, Ansari was accosted by a mob who fatally assaulted him. Upon being confronted by members of the mob, Ansari was forced to reveal his religion. He breathed his last minutes after Salman took him to Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) Hospital in Dilshad Garden.

But before they reached the hospital, Salman, born differently-abled, had to first push his father on a rickshaw cart for 3km to take him to a private clinic. There, he was asked to pay Rs 5,000 for treatment, which he could ill afford. Salman then borrowed money from a few people to hail an auto to take his father to GTB Hospital.

Salman said two strangers had dropped his father outside their home in Buddha Colony before 6am. Woken up from his slumber by the strangers, he saw his bloodied father lying on the ground. Ansari told Salman to rush him to a hospital since he was bleeding profusely from his head and left leg.

“He thought things have improved outside and so decided to go to work. He told me he was stopped by a mob and then beaten up mercilessly. Two men came on a Scooty and dropped him outside our home. Father said, ‘rush me to a hospital, else I will not survive’,” said Salman, unable to hold back his tears.

Salman and his father earned Rs 300-Rs 400 a day selling scrap collected from streets. The teenager says his mother has separated from the family. Hearing his plight, a few lawyers helping families outside the morgue of GTB Hospital volunteered to take down Ansari’s details and help Salman follow up on the post-mortem.