36-year-old Mumbai man killed in brawl over taxi, four arrested

An 18-year-old was arrested and three minors detained for allegedly killing a man in a brawl over boarding a taxi at Chembur, during the early hours of Monday.

The incident occurred at 2.30am near Chembur colony bus stop on RC Road.

Three men — Rambabu Mahadev Savita, 23, Surendra Natha Singh, 36, and Brij Singh, 23 — were on their way home from South Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Krishna Boina, 18, and three minor boys (two aged 17 and third one 16), were waiting at RC Road to board a taxi to Kurla. “When the taxi stopped at RC Road, the four teenagers were waiting for the three men to disembark as they wanted to hail the same taxi to Kurla,” said Sudhir Gadkari, police inspector, Chembur police station.

Police said that the three men were in an inebriated condition and were taking too long to pay the driver, which enraged the teenagers.

The teenagers asked them to leave quickly, which led to an argument. The two groups hurled abuses at each other, which turned into a full-fledged fight with both the parties raining blows on one another.

The main accused, Boina, picked up a paver block and smashed Surendra’s head.

One of the minors, too, picked up the block and also hit Surendra on the head.

The accused then boarded the taxi and took it to Govandi.

A profusely bleeding Surendra was rushed to a nearby hospital by his friends, where he was declared dead.

Based on the descriptions given by Surendra’s friends, the crime branch swung into action and traced the four accused from the Chembur camp area. They were then taken into custody.

While the minors were sent to a remand home by a juvenile court, a local court sent Boina to police custody.

“The teenagers did odd jobs for a living,” said a crime branch officer privy to the investigation.

“As there were fewer taxies on the road during the wee hours, the teenagers were desperately looking out for one as they wanted to go and eat,” he said.

The accused has been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 302 for murder.