IAS officer, brother thrash Airtel execs over router

An FIR has been registered against Aman Mittal, an IAS officer of the 2015 batch, and his brother Devesh.

Mumbai : Two engineers who work for Airtel were allegedly beaten up by the deputy secretary of state water supply and sanitation department, and his brother at their residence in Ghansoli after the workers arrived to fix their internet router on Saturday evening.

The act was captured on CCTV, a copy of which is with the police.(REPRESENTATIVE PIC)

An FIR has been registered against Aman Mittal, an IAS officer of the 2015 batch, and his brother Devesh, following their alleged act of violence on Bhushan Gujar and Sagar Mandhare, representatives of the telecom provider, at Rabale police station, Navi Mumbai. The act was captured on CCTV, a copy of which is with the police.

While no arrests have been made so far, sources from the police station said the Mittal brothers vented their rage on the engineers, upset that their newly installed WiFi system was not up to speed. The brothers have also filed a cross-complaint against the engineers, indicating physical abuse.

Aman, who was previously posted as municipal commissioner of Latur and collector of Jalgaon district, lives in Vyankateshwara Society, sector 6, Ghansoli, Navi Mumbai.

One of the victims of the assault, Bhushan Gujar, who takes calls from Airtel customers based in Ghansoli, narrated the course of events. According to him, the Mittals wanted a router connected on December 30. After receiving the call, Bhushan deputed Amritesh Singh, an engineer, for the task, who did the needful and left the premises.

“Soon after, they started calling me with complaints of malfunctioning connection. Since Amritesh had already left, we sent another engineer, Sagar Mandhare, who was on a job in the same building. I was on call with them all along; as soon as Sagar arrived, the brothers complained about the connection and in a fit of rage started abusing and physically assaulting him. As it seemed serious, I informed my seniors and rushed to the spot,” said Bhushan.

On reaching the Mittal residence, Bhushan said, he saw Aman sitting on Sagar’s chest. Bhushan’s colleague Shrikant, who accompanied him, intervened saying the issue could be resolved amicably through discussion. In response, Devesh hit Bhushan, and called four to five others from the neighbourhood to join them. As the fight intensified, Shrikant managed to flee.

“The Mittals called Rabale police. A constable arrived and slapped Sagar, while Aman and Devesh snatched my cell phone and compelled me to pay for the WiFi router through UPI. The brothers then got in touch with senior IPS officers and requested them for help. We called our bosses and the legal team. After much persuasion, an FIR was finally registered,” said Bhushan, who suffered a fractured toe and sustained grave injuries.

The other victim of the assault, Sagar, said, “When I examined the router and found it in a fine working condition, they became annoyed and told Bhushan on phone that I was abusing them. Aman verbally abused Bhushan, and sat on my chest and thrashed me. They twisted my hands and Devesh stood on it. They also used pipes and rods to beat me. Bhushan received the same treatment soon after he arrived.” Sagar said eventually, security guards and police who arrived at the spot also slapped him, and that his “back is full of marks”.

When HT reached out to additional chief secretary Nitin Gadre, from the general administration department, for a comment, he said he was on leave. Principal secretary, water supply and sanitation, Sanjay Khandare, was also unaware of the incident, while chief secretary Nitin Kareer did not take this reporter’s calls.

When contacted, Aman Mittal spoke about a cross-complaint and dropped the call saying he was busy. However, according to his FIR against the telecom executives, a copy of which is with HT, after the family recently moved to Ghansoli, they paid ₹5232 for a WiFi connection. The engineers had installed it at around 4:30pm on Saturday, but when his brother Devesh tested the connection, he found it was not working. They called Gujar and asked it to be fixed. The executive claimed that it was functional, following which he abused Aman and kicked him in his private parts. The FIR also states that the engineer attacked Aman with a machine on his face, resulting in bleeding.

After this, the brothers called the police. Four security guards came to the spot to make peace. Later, the brothers sought treatment for their wounds at a local hospital.

Rajendra Kote Patil, senior inspector, Rabale police station said the “engineers of Airtel have been beaten badly”.

“We have served notices to Aman and his brother Devesh Mittal to come for inquiry. We have collected evidence and the CCTV footage. The brothers have said that they were attacked by pipes. A team from Airtel came to the police station and we have registered the FIR. The Mittals have also filed a case against the Airtel engineers. The investigation is on,” said the cop.