A man in his mid-twenties was stabbed at least 50 times and beaten with rods by a group of men on motorcycles in south Delhi’s Khanpur area on Thursday evening.  The brazen attack was caught on camera.  A complaint has been filed against unknown men, police said.

Around Indian time 4:00pm on Thursday, Ashish was on his way back home from the gym when he was attacked by 20 men in narrow lanes of Duggal colony. The footage shows Ashish, in a black shirt, being stopped by two men and within minutes, ten more bikes, one after the other, with two men on each zipped in and surrounded Ashish, reports NDTV.

For the next few minutes horror unfolded, as the men stabbed Ashish repeatedly and beat him with rods. No one in the neighbourhood stepped out to stop the act. The CCTV footage shows the men fleeing with rods and knives in their hands, as Ashish fell on the road.

Ashish was taken to a hospital by locals only after the attackers left. Ashish is in a critical care unit, with not less than 50 knife wounds, say doctors.

Residents alleged that police arrived at least an hour late after being informed about the incident.

As to why Ashish was attacked is still not confirmed but according to local residents the men targeted Ashish over a fight earlier on Thursday. Ashish, they say, stopped these men from beating a boy for throwing water balloons on them.

Instead of Holi cheer, the capital is seeing several shameful incidents of hooliganism this year. For the last two days there have been incidents of college girls being hit with semen-filled balloons. On Thursday, students and teachers protested outside the Delhi police headquarters alleging lawlessness during Holi.