“Gurtej had come to Delhi on December 22 after spending a month in his village in Haryana’s Jind. He and Tejinder worked all day on December 22, after which Tejinder went home. On Sunday evening, Tejinder went to meet Gurtej. We came to know about their deaths the next morning,” Tejinder’s cousin Pawandeep said on Tuesday.
Tejinder, a 31-year-old furniture factory owner, and his 21-year-old friend Gurtej were found dead in west Delhi’s Subhash Nagar on Monday morning.
The police suspect they either died due to inhaling toxic fumes emanating from a traditional brazier (angithi) or excessive alcohol consumption. Tejinder lived in Ramesh Nagar, Gurtej, who stayed in Subhash Nagar here, belonged to Haryana.
Their post-mortem was conducted on Tuesday and Gurtej’s family left for their home town immediately after receiving his body.
Talking about their friendship, Tejinder’s family said they had met on a trip to Manali nearly four years ago. “They both got stuck on the way and that is how they became friends. Both of them stayed in touch after the Manali trip,” the cousin added.
Tejinder’s family said he drank on weekends but started consuming alcohol heavily after his relationship with his wife disintegrated. Ms. Pawandeep said Tejinder got married four years ago. “Tejinder and his wife were in a relationship before they got married. It was a love marriage. However, they started fighting a lot within a few months after the wedding. She left the house two years ago and never returned. He was very upset over his broken marriage and started drinking heavily after that,” she said.
The family claimed that Tejinder was also troubled because his factory in Ramesh Nagar had been sealed recently. “He had a furniture manufacturing unit in Ramesh Nagar, which was shut during the sealing drive a few months ago. He shifted his factory to Mayapuri,” the cousin said. Tejinder is survived by his mother, brother, sister-in-law, sister and her daughter. All six of them lived together in a rented house in Ramesh Nagar.