NEW DELHI: The young man who alerted the police about the attack on Nido Tania is among those arrested for the murderous assault on the 19-year-old Arunachal Pradesh student. “Sundar Singh, 27, made the PCR call that day and rushed to stop the fight,” a family friend said. Sundar’s brother Pawan, 28, who signed as a witness, too has been arrested.

Sundar and Pawan run a small production house in south Delhi. On January 29, they were witness to the fight between Tania and the owner of the shop a floor below their flat. They saw policemen come in and also saw them leave after a “compromise” was worked out. They thought they had seen the end of it.

But, on January 31, they were detained at Lajpat Nagar police station. Sundar told policemen he had clicked photographs of the incident and had in no way participated in beating up Nido. They were told they’d be let off soon. On February 3, after Rahul Gandhi’s asked home minister Sushilkumar Shinde to take swift action, police announced that they had identified two juveniles and arrested three person. Sundar and Pawan were among them.

Senior police officers insisted the brothers had been arrested only after investigators recorded statements of witnesses and that there was proper evidence against them.

Police said the two brothers, Sundar and Pawan, were arrested in the Nido Tania assault case after there was evidence against them. “We have not arrested them for murder,” a senior officer clarified. “Police have identified six people of whom two are juveniles. Three of the accused have been arrested for assault,” a police statement said.

Sundar and Pawan live on the fourth floor of a Lajpat Nagar-II building. Their father died a decade ago and the two now take care of their 65-year-old mother. Neighbours describe them as helpful and very social. “Last August, Sundar saved two women travelling in an autorickshaw from being molested by two drunk men near Lajpat Nagar Metro station and even got one of them arrested. The drunkards had even beaten up the brothers,” Manju Datta, a family friend said.

“On the day Nido was assaulted, Sundar rushed down from his house after hearing the commotion and called up police. He made the PCR call. He mediated in the fight and helped work out a compromise. His brother, Pawan, was asked by the police to sign as a witness in the compromise. Nido paid Rs 7,000. There was another 65-year-old man who signed as a witness,” a family friend said.

Their mother, who was inconsolable and broke down in court, can’t believe her sons have been arrested for the crime. “They are innocent. Help them. They are being framed,” she cried.

Meanwhile, the 65-year-old man who too had signed as another witness was let off after his family made a hue and cry about his heart problem. “The brothers are being framed. Nobody will come to help others in crisis if such a fate awaits them,” said Geeta Chauhan, a neighbour and a family friend.

The photographs of the brawl clicked by the brothers are their only hope. “We are going to submit them as evidence in the court so that they get a bail,” said they lawyer, Shalabh Gupta.