Madhya Pradesh: Toll Staff Caught on Camera Attacking Child, Family with Iron Rod Over FASTag Payment

Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh): On Sunday night, a family from Amravati in Maharashtra was allegedly beaten up by employees of the Purankhedi toll plaza in Shivpuri over a FASTag payment issue. The family was traveling to Indore when they stopped at the toll plaza. The toll booth employees claimed that the family's FASTag balance was insufficient and demanded cash payment. The family refused to pay cash and instead tried to proceed through the toll plaza without paying. This angered the toll booth employees, who started beating up the family. A child who got out of the car to stop the beating was attacked with an iron rod by one of the employees. Several members of the family were injured in the attack. The victim's family then filed a complaint with the Kolaras police station. The police have registered a case against six toll workers under sections of assault.

Chief Najib-ur-Rehman's son Shafi-ur-Rehman said “We were returning to Amravati from Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh in two cars. Our vehicles reached the Purankhedi toll plaza on Sunday night. Our tax at the toll barrier was collected from Fastag. It was not deducted while there was a balance of Rs 766. The toll workers said that the balance of Fastag has been exhausted. We refused to accept this. On this, the two employees present there started abusing”.

Fight over Fastag

Najeeb-ur-Rehman said “We refused to abuse the toll workers after getting down from the car. After this, his other companions came there and started fighting with us. When the girls in the car tried to stop, a toll worker hit a girl on the head with an iron pipe. Her head started bleeding. Our children got beaten up. When they started making videos, the toll workers snatched the mobiles and broke them. From there we went to the police station and lodged a complaint.”

On receiving the complaint, the Kolaras police registered an FIR against 6 people named Awadhesh Dhakad, Shera Goswami, Shivam Bhargava, Satyendra Raghuvanshi, Mohan Raghuvanshi and Munesh Dhakad.

Further investigation is underway.