Waiters assault trio on WEH, four arrested

Mumbai: Altercation over the availability of food, led a group of waiters of a restaurant to assault three men with bamboo sticks on the Western Express Highway last week

Mumbai: Altercation over the availability of food, led a group of waiters of a restaurant to assault three men with bamboo sticks on the Western Express Highway last week. The MIDC police have arrested four accused in connection with the incident.

HT Image

Even as the violence unfolded on the bustling highway, motorists and passers-by did not intervene but recorded videos, which later went viral on social media and are expected to be used as evidence.

The MIDC police said the incident occurred in the early hours of January 7, but the matter was reported to them on Tuesday.

The police said the complainant, Sandeep Jadhav, along with his brother and a friend. went to Greeting Hotel near Western Express Highway metro station at around 3 am, to have dinner but were turned away as the restaurant had shut for the day.

“This led to an argument between Jadhav and the restaurant owner, and soon, they started hurling abuses,” said Satish Gaikwad, senior police inspector, MIDC police station.

The trio then decided to look for food elsewhere and hailed an autorickshaw. As they were getting into the vehicle, a group of five to seven waiters from the hotel, armed with bamboo sticks, came after them and allegedly, started hitting them.

A video of the incident shows the auto driver calling out for help, while the trio are assaulted. The waiters are seen repeatedly hitting the victims, who started screaming in pain, even as people walked by and vehicles drove past them.

The assault went on for several minutes before the waiters decided to walk away. The three men, who sustained injuries to their faces, limbs and torsos, went to the nearest hospital and got treated. They approached the Andheri police station on Monday evening.

“The FIR was registered and then transferred to us on Tuesday. We started inquiries into the matter and arrested four of the waiters on Tuesday morning,” said Gaikwad.

The arrested waiters have been identified as Vinod Yadav (39), Pramod Pujari (30), Deepak Kapurwan (23) and Arvind Chaurasia (30). They have been charged with assault by dangerous weapons and criminal intimidation under the Indian Penal Code, said the officer.