Archive · 21 Aug 2026
FIR Alleges Pellet Fire Injured Student During Delhi March
Sahil Lochab is a 19-year-old student who joined a protest march in Delhi.
The march was about an alleged paper leak in a Delhi Police examination.
He says police or security personnel used pellets during a crowd-control action.
He reported seeing someone in a blue uniform holding a large gun.
The pellets injured his eye and other parts of his body.
Doctors said he is unlikely to regain sight in that eye.
Lochab says doctors found more than 200 pellets in his body.
Rahul Gandhi supported his request for a police case.
Police have registered an FIR, but the person accused of firing has not yet been identified.
Nineteen-year-old Sahil Lochab alleged that a person in a blue uniform fired metal pellets at him during a July 20 march toward Parliament.
Lochab said the march followed a lathi-charge and stampede near Palika Bazaar, where thousands of students had gathered.
The FIR states that pellets struck Lochab’s eye and other body parts, with doctors giving less than a 1% chance of restoring vision in his right eye.
Lochab said an AIIMS scan found more than 200 pellets in his eye, neck, chest, jaw, arm and other areas.
Police registered the FIR under Sections 118(1) and 125 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, but the accused person or persons have not been identified.
- Who
- Sahil Lochab, a 19-year-old student, filed the complaint; Rahul Gandhi later supported his demand for an FIR.
- What
- An FIR alleges that a person in a blue uniform fired metal pellets at Lochab during a protest march, seriously injuring him.
- When
- The alleged shooting occurred on July 20; the FIR was registered after Rahul Gandhi’s daylong dharna on Friday.
- Where
- The incident was alleged to have occurred near Palika Bazaar during a march from Jantar Mantar toward Parliament in New Delhi.
- Why
- The march protested an alleged paper leak in a Delhi Police examination held in 2025.
- Complainant
- Sahil Lochab, 19, a Delhi University School of Open Learning student
- Alleged injury
- Pellets struck Lochab’s right eye and other parts of his body
- Medical finding
- An AIIMS scan reportedly found more than 200 pellets; doctors said the chance of restoring vision was less than 1%
- FIR sections
- Sections 118(1) and 125 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita
- Accused status
- The accused person or persons remained unidentified when the FIR was filed
- Requested evidence
- Lochab asked police to secure CCTV and drone footage from the protest route and surrounding areas
- Security deployment
- The Rapid Action Force and Delhi Police were deployed along the march route, according to the report