Delhi lynching ends peace-loving Vikram's musical journey, reignites safety concern for Northeast residents

Guwahati: Music was in his blood and Chongtham Vikram Singh pursued it with full passion--as a lead guitarist of three popular rock bands in Manipur and later as a music teacher in New Delhi for 17 years.The musical journey of 55-year-old Vikram, eldest son of Chongtham Kamala, who was often referred to as Manipur's Lata Mangeshkar, fell silent on Sunday night (September 6), when he was beaten to death by eight men in Delhi's Kilokari village after he complained of their cacophony near his apartment. His wife, Joshna and minor son, Yaiphaba, looked helplessly as the group chased Vikram back to his flat on the third floor and kept beating him. Vikram died in a nearby hospital..Manipuri man's killing in Delhi: Rijiju says chargesheet in 8-9 days; BJP hits back at Congress for 'politics' over crime. "My husband was a peace loving musician who lived a peaceful life," Joshna said in New Delhi on Tuesday while pleading justice. "We don't demand revenge, we want justice. He had a name, a family and a life that mattered." Vikram's cousin Lashkipriya is a filmmaker, whose movie, Boong became the first Indian film to bag a BAFTA earlier this year.Vikram began his musical career as a guitarist and established himself as a known figure in Manipur's rock music platform. He played as a lead guitarist with bands like Ultra Vires, Phoenix and Eastern Dark before destiny took him to Delhi, where he started a music school and continued to pass on his music skills to the next generation. "It's a shame the way we treated a musician, who always tried to teach peace and unity through music," Joi Baruah, a popular singer and musician from Assam, said.Spotlight on safetyThe heart wrenching killing of the musician also put a spotlight back on attacks the Mongoloid-origin residents from the country's Northeast face in Delhi and rest of India. Although police did not call Vikram's death a racial attack, apparent deep sense of racism against people from the region is often blamed for the frequent harassment and attacks."Manipur is going through a conflict for long and people come here (New Delhi) for safety. No civil society can accept the way people from our beautiful and culturally diverse region is treated and killed," human rights activist, Binalakshmi Nepram, told reporters in New Delhi. .'Every Northeast family asking same question — are we safe?': Rahul Gandhi slams 'Shah's MHA' after Manipuri musician beaten to death in Delhi. Political stormVikram's murder triggered a political storm with the Opposition parties alleging failure of Narendra Modi government in preventing attacks and harassment of the Northeast people. "A father, killed outside his own home, in his own country's capital. After many such incidents, every Northeast family in Delhi is asking the same question today - are we safe here?" Congress leader Rahul Gandhi posted on X. Manipur CM Yumnam Khemchand Singh said that the tragic incident is a painful reminder of the safety concerns faced by people from the Northeast who live, study and work in the national capital. Singh wrote to Delhi CM Rekha Gupta seeking a fair, time-bound, high-level investigation under the direct supervision of senior police leadership. Union minister Kiren Rijiju, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, said police informed him that the chargesheet into the case would be filed in 8 to 9 days."Every time an incident like this happens, politicians resort to blame game, police takes some action and we wait for another incident. Something radical must be done to stop such incident," one of Vikram's band mate said in Imphal.Timeline of attacks on Northeast peopleJanuary 29, 2014: Nido Tania, a 20-year-old student and son of an Arunachal Pradesh MLA, died after being attacked at Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi.March 3, 2020: Two girl students from Northeast were attacked by six men at Kamala Nagar near DU campus. The girls were allegedly called "corona virus" due to Mongoloid look. December 9, 2025: Anjel Chakma, a student from Tripura, was killed in a racial attack at Dehradun in Uttarakhand.March 9, 2026: A girl from Manipur was attacked in Delhi's Malviya Nagar. September 6, 2026: Chongtham Vikram Singh, a musician from Manipur, beaten to death at Delhi's Kilokari village.