28-year-old biker killed in road rage incident in Malad

“They hit Akash with anything they could lay their hands on—measuring weights from a nearby grocery, stones,” said the wife

MUMBAI: A 28-year-old biker was allegedly killed in a road rage incident by an autorickshaw driver and his accomplices in Malad East after he confronted the driver for overtaking his vehicle from the wrong side. Nine men who assaulted the victim have been identified and arrested.

28-year-old biker killed in road rage incident in Malad

The victim Akash Maeen, owner of a travel agency, moved to Hyderabad in January 2024 with his wife Lavina (30), and had come to Mumbai to gift his parents a car for Dussehra. The couple was to return to Hyderabad on Sunday after taking delivery of their newly purchased Maruti Ertiga.

On Saturday, Maeen and his family left his parents’ house in Malad East for the car dealer’s showroom. Maeen and his wife travelled on their motorcycle while the parents took an auto-rickshaw. On reaching the showroom, they were told that there was some problem with their RTO registration and the delivery of the car would thus be delayed. The family turned back and was returning home when the incident took place at around 6.30 pm on Saturday.

“My in-laws went ahead in an auto,” said Lavina. “Akash and I were on the bike near Pushpa Park in Malad East when an auto dangerously overtook us from the wrong side.” Maeen, who somehow maintained his balance, confronted the autorickshaw driver, identified as Avinash Kadam (30), and told him to drive carefully. “The auto driver got agitated and began abusing us in front of the passengers in his vehicle,” said Lavina.

The auto driver then stopped his vehicle ahead of the bike to make it halt and continued abusing the victim. “That is when I began clicking photos of him, which irked him further,” said Lavina. “He pushed me, causing my phone to drop, which is when my husband became furious and caught hold of the driver’s collar.”

Seeing the auto driver being manhandled, his friends, who were standing on the side of the road, rushed to his help and began hitting Maeen. Lavina said that she called her in-laws to tell them to rush back, but the driver too phoned more friends to assault her husband. After that, he fled while the friends continued beating Maeen.

“They hit Akash with anything they could lay their hands on—measuring weights from a nearby grocery, stones,” said a distraught Lavina. “When I tried to intervene, they shoved me around too. Akash then retaliated by punching the attackers till he fell on the ground unconscious. There were at least 25 onlookers who clicked photos and shot videos while Akash was being assaulted, but no one stopped the attackers.”

After around 25 minutes, the police arrived but just told the attackers that if they did not stop, the man would die. “It was only after hearing this that they all fled from the spot,” said Lavina. “We then rushed Akash to the Jogeshwari Trauma Centre where he was later declared dead. He was killed for no reason,” she said tearfully.

Police inspector Raees Shaikh of Dindoshi police station said they had traced Kadam and arrested him. They also tracked down the other eight people who were seen attacking Maeen in the videos. “Two men who were hit by Maeen have severe head injuries,” said Shaikh. “We are still scanning the videos and trying to identify people who were part of the mob attacking Maeen and others who were trying to stop the fight.”

The police have arrested all the nine allegedly involved in the attack, booked them on the charge of murder and produced them before the court on Monday. They have been remanded to police custody till October 22.