A 30-year-old jeweller residing at Bhiwandi, driving back home through the Anand Nagar Toll Naka in Mulund, was run over by a truck driver after the two had an argument on Thursday night, and the driver is believed to have mowed him down on purpose, police said.
The victim has been identified as Bhavesh Soni, and he owned a jewellery shop in Zaveri Bazaar, south Mumbai.
According to police, Soni was driving home after work and when he reached the toll plaza, he was involved in a verbal spat with a truck driver as each of them had been trying to overtake the other. In the process, Soni’s vehicle was dented by the truck of the accused, police said, and matters took a turn for the worse.
Trucker deliberately run over the victim following a fight
Soni came out of his car and the truck driver alighted from his vehicle. A lengthy, heated argument ensued between the two; in the meantime, Soni received a call and was answering it, standing away from his car. In this time, the driver went back to his truck, started the vehicle and deliberately rammed into Soni, throwing the latter away from the road and killing him on the spot. Realising what he had done, the driver immediately fled the spot, said the police, on the basis of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage they recovered at the scene of the crime.
Currently, police are pursuing the investigation based on the accused driver’s vehicle number. Meanwhile, a relative of Bhavesh, Manish Soni, was informed about the incident and he then registered a complaint against the driver at Navghar police station.
Search for the accused underway
“We have the vehicle number and the route on which the vehicle was proceeding, based on the CCTV footage. On this basis, we have started the search operation to trace the accused driver,” said a police officer.
A case has been registered against the driver under section 302 (murder) and relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act.
