PUNE: A tempo driver was beaten to death by two drivers of a private luxury bus in a
road rage incident near the viaduct on the Katraj bypass in the wee hours of Thursday.
The incident was the fallout of a minor accident — the tempo had brushed against the rear of the bus while overtaking it near the new Katraj tunnel. The bus, carrying a few passengers, chased and overtook the tempo and forced the driver, Lalji Bandhu Pal (50), to stop near the viaduct.
The two bus drivers got down from their vehicle and started abusing and arguing with Pal. A physical scuffle followed, during which the two drivers kicked and punched Pal.
While the assault was on, a night patrol vehicle of the
Bharati Vidyapeeth police came to the spot. The policemen intervened and apprehended the two bus drivers.
However, by this time, Pal had started vomiting. He was rushed to a private hospital at Narhe, where he succumbed to internal injuries around 8am.
The two bus drivers, Aslam Iqbal Mulla (23) and Amol Madhukar Gadekar (32), have been arrested. An offence of
murder has been registered against them. Ibrahim Hussain Sayyed (60), the driver of another tempo following Pal’s vehicle, lodged a complaint against the duo. Sayyed and Pal had started together from Karad for Mumbai.
Senior inspector Kamlakar Takawale of the Bharati Vidyapeeth police said, “Mulla is a resident of Ichalkaranji in Kolhapur district while Gadekar is from Varne in Satara district. Gadekar started hitting Pal first. Pal was a resident of
Filterpada near Aarey colony in Mumbai.”
Takawale said that the bus was going to Mumbai from Kolhapur. “Around 1.55am, Pal’s tempo brushed against the rear portion of the bus. The bus driver chased the tempo at high speed and intercepted it near the viaduct. The bus halted in such a way that it blocked a major chunk of the carriageway. When Sayyed’s tempo reached the spot, the scuffle had begun. Sayyed tried to intervene but was pushed aside by the two bus drivers and threatened with dire consequences,” he said.
TOI attempted to speak to Sayyed at the police station, but he said he did not want to make any comment.
Police later provided an alternative bus to the stranded bus passengers.
The city was a witness to several road rage incidents in the past couple of years. On March 18 last year, Ramavatar Banwarilal Jatav (18) was
killed when two drunk youths on a motorcycle attacked him and gouged his eyes. Jatav had brushed against their motorcycle while crossing the road at Sahakarnagar, causing minor damage to the vehicle.
In another incident, Abhaysinh alias Aba Uttam Godse (38), a hotelier from Waduj village in Khatav taluka of Satara district, was beaten by a group of men on the Katraj-Dehu road bypass for overtaking their car on October 6 last year. Godse was heading towards Satara. He died of internal injuries. Two men were later arrested for the murder.
In February, the city police arrested three men for beating up a 22-year-old car driver at the Mundhwa signal junction. During the late-night scuffle, Kishor Sunil Pethe, a driver from Ghatkopar (West) in Mumbai, fell on the pennant flag rod on the car’s bonnet and was severely injured in the stomach. Pethe had lodged a complaint with the Mundhwa police against the three men, who were on one scooter, for assaulting him with sharp weapons.
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