Ex-Ponda MLA Lavoo Mamledar killed in Belagavi road rage

Panaji/Belagavi: Former Ponda MLA Lavoo Mamledar, 68, died in Belagavi, on Saturday, after being assaulted by a rickshaw driver. Police have arrested autorickshaw driver Amirsuhil Sanadi, 26, and sent him to Hindalaga Central Jail, Belagavi. Meanwhile, Mamledar’s body was transported to Goa late on Saturday, after a postmortem at Belagavi’s civil hospital.
Deputy commissioner of police (law and order), Belagavi, Rohan Jagadeesh said the attack occurred after the car in which Mamledar was travelling in Khade Bazaar area brushed against an autorickshaw leading to an argument between the former MLA and the autorickshaw driver.
Police said the driver demanded compensation for the damage to his vehicle, which Mamledar refused. This, they claimed, sparked off the altercation during which the driver allegedly slapped the former MLA. Mamledar then entered the lodge, in the Khade Bazaar area, but suddenly collapsed in the reception area.
He was later declared dead at the civil hospital, police said.
“Today between 1pm and 1.30pm, there was an altercation at Khade Bazaar between Lavoo Mamledar, who is known to be an ex-MLA from Ponda. During the altercation between both parties, the accused slapped the ex-MLA on his cheek, post which Mamledar started to climb the stairs of his lodge and in the reception area of Srinivas lodge he collapsed. He was shifted to the civil hospital. Here, a lot of tests were done on him, post which he was declared dead,” Jagadesh said.
The assault on Mamledar was captured on CCTV in the area. Eyewitnesses said that Mamledar asked the autorickshaw driver to maintain distance during the argument, after which the enraged autorickshaw driver slapped the former MLA multiple times, even as bystanders tried to intervene and stop the assault.
Lodge owner Adviappa said, “He was a regular customer at our lodge. He was slapped multiple times by the autorickshaw driver, following which he collapsed.”
“There was minor damage to the autorickshaw, yet the driver followed him to the lodge to pick up an argument,” another eyewitness, a taxi driver, told reporters.
Mamledar represented the Ponda constituency from 2012 to 2017. Mamledar was elected MLA on MGP ticket in 2012.
Mamledar’s daughter rushed to Belagavi following the incident.
The funeral will be held at the family’s crematorium in Durgabhat-Ponda on Sunday at 12.30pm. Sources said the body will be preserved at the mortuary of Ponda Sub-District Hospital on Saturday night.