Mumbai crime: Senior citizen thrashed, robbed on WEH

60-year-old man was driving towards Malad when he banged into another vehicle from behind and drove off; occupants of the car then gave chase, pulled him out and assaulted him; stole his gold chain

An accident between two cars on the Western Express Highway took an ugly turn after the driver of one of the cars was allegedly pulled out and thrashed after a brief chase on Wednesday night.

Two days after the road rage incident took place on Wednesday night, the Crime Branch officers of Unit-VIII managed to track down the five accused and arrested them yesterday

Driving a Maruti Swift, 60-year-old Binodkumar Tekriwal had crashed his vehicle into a Hyundai i10 and drove off, after which the occupants of the other vehicle pursued him for a distance and caught up with him. Tekriwal said the five occupants of the car then pulled him out, assaulted him and also snatched his gold chain during the confrontation.

Two days after the incident occurred, the Crime Branch officers of Unit-VIII managed to track down the accused and arrested them yesterday. The accused have, however, rubbished the allegations, insisting Tekriwal was driving rashly and that they did pursue Tekriwal’s vehicle after he crashed into their car from behind. But after they caught up with him and demanded compensation for the dent, they drove off.

The five accused have been identified as Mohammad Alam Nafeed Hamid (34), Mubin Sheikh alias Shahrukh (24), Imran Ali Amjad Ali Sheikh (25), Israr Kallu Khan (24), and Irshadali Barkatali Siddique (24), all residents of Dharavi.

Road rage
The incident took place near Teachers’ Colony in Kherwadi, Bandra (East) on the northbound stretch of the WEH. Tekriwal and his son Akshay were on their way home, while the accused were heading to attend a wedding in Malad. Tekriwal then proceeded to the Vakola police station and lodged a complaint after the road rage.

He gave the police officials the car’s plate number, which he managed to note down during the scuffle. Police registered a case under sections 395 (dacoity) and 324 (assault) of the IPC. The case was transferred to Kherwadi police station, as the incident took place in their jurisdiction.

The police tracked down the car owner’s address, but when they reached the location they got to know that the person had sold the car two years ago. The police then tracked down the second owner, but it came to light that the owner had given his car to a garage for overnight repair. One of the accused, Sheikh, who is a mechanic, decided to use the car to drive down his friends for the wedding in Malad.

“We are all innocent. The complainant [Tekriwal] hit our car first and did not stop. So, we chased him and asked him to pay the money for the damage. He was ready to pay up, but we drove off,” said Israr Kallu Khan, one of the accused. Meanwhile, Hamid, who works as a manager with a private company, said, “We are from good families and have respectable jobs.

But, due to no fault of ours, we are behind bars and my entire life will be spoilt now. We should have gone to the police station and filed a complaint against Tekriwal, as he damaged the car.” Police officials said the gold chain had not been recovered yet and deem that it may have come off during the scuffle. None of the accused has criminal backgrounds, police said.