Nagpur: A video went viral during the past 10 days. The video showed a man tied to a pole and two or three young men thrashing the tied man with canes. The victim had to bear the blows of a cane landing on his left side after a full swing of the cane. To add to demeaning act, the assailants heaped very obscene, vulgar abuses in Hindi on the victim.
What did happen?
A driver of Rashpal Singh Transport Corporation based in Punjab identified as Rakesh Kumar Gurmesh Singh aged 34 years and a resident of Village Hasanpur, Singowal, Gurudaspur, Punjab was hired by a Chilly Trader under the company’s name LSB Traders. LSB traders had hired Rakesh Kumar to transport Chillies to Delhi/Punjab. The contract was for Rakesh Kumar to pick up chillies from four to five villages in and around Mauda area and then leave for Delhi.
However, after Rakesh Kumar collected all the chillies that had to be collected from various villages, he got a phone call from LSB Traders asking him to come to Mauda Mandi (market area). He was told that the chilles were to be transferred to another vehicle. Rakesh Kumar then told the authorities of LSB Traders that he should be paid for the diesel spent and his charges which amounts to nearly 4000/- (Rupees four thousand). Rakesh Kumar suspected some foul play and wanted to carry on to Delhi where he was to deliver the chillies. Some of the henchmen of LSB Traders jumped on to the running truck to stop him from going away with the Chillies. In the process of jumping onto to running truck, one of the henchmen fell down sustaining minor bruises. The henchmen of LSB Traders managed to bring the truck to Mauda Mandi (Market).
There henchmen of LSB Traders waited till around 2 am when the entire market is deserted. They then tied the victim Rakesh Kumar to a pole and thrashed him with bamboo batons/canes. Around 6-7 henchmen were said to have assaulted the victim with fisticuffs, kicks and canes. The henchmen of LSB Traders had also stolen Rs 6000ing from the pocket of victim Rakesh Kumar and left them after thrashing him black and blue. The cleaner a young man escaped when he saw the driver Rakesh Kumar getting thrashed. The audacity of the henchmen was that they made video of the entire assault and made it viral on social media.
Somehow the victim brought the truck to Gandhibagh. There with the help of some other drivers reached the Kotwali Police Station. He was asked to register a complaint in Lakadganj Police Station so he went there. Lakadganj Police Station in-turn sent him to Mauda Police Station where a case was registered against some unidentified persons under Section 324 and 34 of Indian Penal Code.
The victim driver Rakesh Kumar alleged that he was not even taken for a medical examination. When he insisted, he was taken to some hospital where the doctor gave some anti-inflammatory analgesic (pain killer) and told him to go home since there are no injuries.
When Rakesh Kumar went on complaining, someone called 108 and he was shifted from Mauda to Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (Mayo) where the attending doctors conducted a detailed examination after intervention of some media personnel. He was also subjected to other tests to ascertain internal injuries.
While speaking to Nagpur Today, the victim truck driver Rakesh Kumar said that the alleged LSB Traders wanted to avoid paying him Rs 4000 and had wanted to send the goods through other transporter. Hence the entire sordid act was enacted.
