Mumbai: A 68-year-old auto rickshaw driver was beaten to death by five attendants at a gas station in Borivali (East) on Tuesday night, following an argument over returning an amount of Rs 5.
The police said Ramdular Yadav had gone to fill gas at a station near Magathane depot, but got involved in a heated argument when an attendant refused to return Rs 5 as change.
All five accused sprang on Ramdular and his son, killing the senior citizen. They were booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Kasturba Marg police station.
On Tuesday evening, Ramdular, a resident of Nalasopara, had called his son, Santosh, 35, also an auto rickshaw driver, to a place near a CNG gas station in Borivli (East). The duo went to the gas station and filled up the tanks of their three-wheelers with CNG worth Rs 205.
Ramdular handed the gas station attendant a note of Rs 500. The attendant was supposed to return Rs 295, but returned only Rs 290. When Ramdular demanded that the attendant pay him the balance, a spat ensued.
The altercation turned violent and the other attendants of the gas station pounced on the father-son duo.
"The fisticuffs were sparked by an argument over a trivial matter of Rs 5. Santosh sustained an ear injury, while Ramdular was knocked unconscious inside his auto rickshaw.
Santosh and a few locals immediately rushed the senior citizen to the civic-run Shatabdi Hospital, where he was declared dead before arrival", said Namdeo Shinde, senior inspector of Kasturba Marg police station.
On the night intervening of Tuesday and Wednesday, Santosh approached Kasturba Marg police station and lodged a complaint against the five gas station attendants-- Sandip Jadhav, 29, Santosh Jadhav, 34, Akshay Mankumbre, 20, Santosh Shelar, 44 and Ravindra Mankumbre, 38.
All five accused were arrested by the police and booked under relevant sections of the IPC.
