DANGER LURKS ON ROAD

DARK TRUTH: The murder of Soumya on Mandela Marg has made VK residents jittery about travelling late night on the road

It is a long, wide stretch, relatively free of potholes. The Nelson Mandela Road, a 4.6km-long key arterial link to Vasant Kunj, should be one of the most pleasurable commutes in the city. Instead, it has acquired the reputation of being shady and best avoided after dark. The murder of TV journalist Soumya Viswanathan, about half-a-kilometre away from the Vasant Kunj police station on October 1, has left the residents of the area feeling insecure when they return home late night after work, dinner or a movie. Ashima Mathur, a resident of C3 who was waiting for her kids to return from school, at the bus-stop near Vasant Arcade market, shudders at the thought of late-night outings with the family. ‘‘We really don’t want to take a chance anymore; the road is full of ruffians in the night and there’s usually no police around,’’ she says. Prone to worrying about her husband, who works for a city hotel and is usually home early morning, she is now completely paranoid about his safety. ‘‘God forbid anything untoward happens, no one will even stop to help.’’