09 April,2015 06:44 AM IST | | Ankoor Anvekar
Bus utility staffers allegedly pursued Rohit Shinde, a 20-year-old engineering student, at Kharghar bus station and beat him up after an argument over loose change
Arguments between conductors and passengers in public transport for not having loose change are a daily occurrence. However, 20-year-old Rohit Shinde never expected that a similar incident would land him in hospital.
Rohit Shinde was allegedly assaulted by NMMT conductors
On Wednesday, after getting into an argument for not having change for Rs 2, a conductor from Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) assaulted Rohit and hit him with a metal box. The accused, identified as Siddharth Patil, got into an argument with Rohit and his friends after coming to know that they did not have the requisite change.
An FIR has been registered against the two conductors, Achyut Mhatre (left) and Siddharth Patil
The incident took place at around 1 pm when Rohit, along with three of his friends from Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Engineering at Kharghar, was heading to Taloja from Kharghar bus station. One of the victim's friends, Vaibhav Chorghe, said, "The total sum of the ticket came up to Rs 52.
However, none of us had change, and hence we handed over an additional Rs 10 note to the conductor. However, the conductor Patil and his colleague Achyut Mhatre started abusing us and later, physically assaulted us." He added that after the altercation, they got off the bus and decided to take an auto rickshaw instead.
"When we started leaving the bus station, Patil came running and hit me hard with his metal ticket box," said victim Rohit Shinde. "Rohit was bleeding profusely and we had no option but to rush him to a nearby clinic," said Arfat Karte, Rohit's friend. After the incident, the victim called his friends and family members and they approached Kharghar police station.
The victim's relatives further alleged that the police refused to lodge any complaint at first. However, after they contacted the Yuva Sena (Shiv Sena's youth wing), the officials registered a case. Meanwhile, officials from the police station claimed that the incident had been hyped unnecessarily.
"The issue is not a major one as the victim has suffered minor injuries. However, we have taken the statement of both the parties and will investigate the matter further," said API D R Dhode from Kharghar police station. Officials from NMMT revealed that Patil and Mhatre both work on contract basis with the transport body and are not permanent employees.
When mid-day tried to speak to the conductors, they refused to comment. Ramnath Bhoir, Transport Committee Chairman of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation told mid-day, "I was not aware of any such incident as I was busy with election work. However, if our staff is at fault then necessary action would be taken against them." Meanwhile, an FIR has been registered against the conductors at Kharghar police station.
