68-year-old killed after argument over ₹5

MUMBAI: A 68-year-old auto-rickshaw driver was beaten to death on Tuesday by five employees of a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) filling station in the western suburb of Borivli (East) following a spat over ~5, police said.

The incident occurred around 5:10 p.m. on Tuesday when Ramdular Yadav, a resident of Nalasopara (West), went to fill gas at the CNG station along with his son, Santosh, 35. Yadav handed a ~500 currency note to an attendant at the gas station after he filled fuel worth ~205.

The matter came to a head after the attendant returned ~290 — ~5 less than the balance amount that he owed to Yadav. When Yadav asked for the loose change, the attendant got irked and started arguing with the auto-rickshaw driver. Soon, the attendant was joined by four of his colleagues, who started raining blows on both Yadav and his son. An helpless Yadav slumped on the ground and fell unconscious. Though he was rushed to a hospital in the vicinity, he succumbed to his injuries there.

“An FIR [First Information Report] has been filed on the basis of prima facie evidence and Santosh’s statement. We have arrested all the five accused,” said Nitin Tadakhe, inspector, crime.

The five accused – Sandeep Jadhav (29), Santosh Jadhav (34) Santosh Shelar (44) and Ravindra Mankumbre (38) and Akshay Mankumbre (20) – have been booked under sections 143, 144 and 149 related to unlawful assembly, 302 (murder), 323 (causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). They were produced before a magistrate’s court on Wednesday and have been remanded in police custody till February 29. Except Akshay, an Andheri resident, the rest of the accused are from Naigaon in Palghar.

Yadav’s body has been sent for post-mortem examination to Bhagwati Hospital to ascertain the cause of his death.