Toll plaza officials among 3 booked for killing farmer
THE PLAZA’S MANAGER DENIED CHARGES OF MURDER AND SAID THE FARMER DIED AFTER HIS TRACTOR OVERTURNED DUE TO SPEEDING
MEERUT: Two officials were among three people booked on Thursday for allegedly beating a farmer to death on Monday after he tried to drive off his sugarcane-laden tractor trolley through an electronic toll collection lane to avoid traffic congestion in the cash lane at Meerut’s Western Toll Plaza , police said.
Sohanveer Chauhan (32), was a resident of Meerut’s Dulhera village. “A murder case has been registered under Section 302 [murder] of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the accused, who are absconding. They will be arrested soon,” said Meerut (city) police superintendent, Akhilesh Narayan Singh.
Singh added the case has been registered against senior manager, manager Pradeep Choudhary and unspecified number of “bouncers” employed at toll the plaza. The toll manager could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. The plaza’s manager, Pradeep Choudhary, denied charges of murder and said that the farmer died after his tractor overturned due to speeding and he got trapped under it. He claimed they have given the CCTV footage of the accident to the police.
Chauhan’s family accused the police of inaction, saying the officials would attend duty at the plaza daily but were not arrested. “It was a planned murder committed by bouncers and officials of the toll plaza and now they are trying to hush up the case by projecting it as an accident to deprive us of justice.” said Chauhan’s father, Ramesh Chauhan.
Chauhan’s brother, Ravindra Chauhan, said he was also travelling on the tractor and insisted the plaza officials and staff were lying. He added there was a long queue in the cash lane and therefore his brother tried to take the empty FASTAG lane. “A bouncer approached us and got into an altercation. He then called other bouncers and toll officials who caught hold of us and started beating him,” he said.
Ravindra Chauhan said he somehow managed to escape but they continued beating his brother. “When I returned with some villagers and passersby to rescue my brother, I was told that Sohanveer had been taken to a nearby private hospital. We reached there and doctors told me that he had died and the body had been sent for postmortem,” he added. “The postmortem report also confirms multiple fractures in his body. There was also a deep scar on his neck.”
Station House Officer of Daurala police station Janak Singh Chauhan said the post-mortem specifies 10 injuries on Sohanveers’s body, which caused his death. Probe is on to nab the accused, he added.
Residents of the area took to the streets and blocked a road over Chauhan’s alleged murder. The blockade was lifted after Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Sangeet Som visited the spot and assured them of a fair probe.