‘Injured’ driver’s video causes uproar

NERUL: Autorickshaw driver unions have threatened to go on a strike after a video of an allegedly assaulted and injured autorickshaw driver surfaced.

The union has demanded the police locate him at the earliest, as the driver had said in the video that he would not survive owing to his injuries.

In the video, Machindra Bhoir, an autorickshaw driver from Karave village, said he had taken two passengers to Ulwe on Wednesday night. He said while returning, he was brutally attacked and looted of cash by four assailants who had wanted to go to Kille Gaothan. He said they had been drunk and had beat him.

He made a video in the injured state and sent it to his friends asking them to inform his family.

The video, shot in dim light, shows only Bhoir’s face. While his eyes are shut in the video, no injury marks are visible.

The video has gone viral lead- ing to tensions in Karave and Belapur areas. A large number of autorickshaw drivers assembled at NRI coastal police stat i on on Thursday night to complain. They also met police commissioner Prabhat Ranjan on Friday.

The police had deployed a dog squad to trace Bhoir. It led them to the old bridge on the road that leads to Uran where they found the autorickshaw. Everything in it was intact. However, there is no trace of Bhoir yet.

“Over 100 autorickshaw drivers have been searching for Bhoir all day from Belapur to Uran. But we haven’t found him,” said Kasam Mulani, president of the Navi Mumbai Rickshaw Mahasangh. “If there are no concrete results soon, we will go on strike.”

The alleged victim’s father Ganpati said, “He would meet me at Seawoods railway station every night at around 8.45pm but when he didn’t turn up on Wednesday I was worried. I looked all over, his phone was also switched off.”