Told to stop smoking, defence personnel beat up cabbie, later attack cops

Four personnel from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Navy were arrested by the Cuffe Parade police for allegedly assaulting two policemen

MumbaiFour personnel from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Navy were arrested by the Cuffe Parade police for allegedly assaulting two policemen.

The accused personnel had a spat with a cabbie on Sunday evening who had objected to their smoking in his taxi (HT File)

The accused personnel had a spat with a cabbie on Sunday evening who had objected to their smoking in his taxi. After the altercation, they bashed up the taxi driver and when two policemen came to his rescue, the four assaulted them too.

The arrested accused have been identified as CISF personnel Praveen Kumar Ashok Singh (27) and Chandrabhan Pratap Singh (26) and Navy personnel Abhijeet Kumar Ajaybahadur Singh (30) and R S Dubey.

According to the police, the four accused were travelling in a taxi on Sunday evening when they had an argument with the driver Chunnilal Valmiki (61). “Valmiki told them that smoking was prohibited inside the taxi as his taxi is a CNG one. The four got angry and asked him to stop the taxi and then pulled him out of the vehicle and started beating him,” said a police officer.

When sub-inspector Avinash Waghmare and constable Patil, who were posted at Badhwar Park police beat chowki, rushed to the spot, the four accused were beating Valmiki. The police managed to rescue him, but the accused started misbehaving and beating the officers too. The policemen called for reinforcements and took the accused away to the police station.

A case was registered at the Cuffe Parade Police station for causing obstruction in a government servant’s work and beating and threatening them. The three were subsequently arrested. Later, Dubey was also arrested in the case.

“On the complaint of sub-inspector Waghmare, the four have been booked under sections of the Indian Penal Code. They were produced before a metropolitan magistrate court on Monday and remanded to judicial custody,” said Sandesh Revale senior police inspector of Cuffe Parade police station.