Toll plaza officials beat farmer to death for using FASTag lane in UP
On February 3, the bouncers and officials of the toll plaza had allegedly beaten Sohanveer Chauhan, 32, a farmer, to death after he tried to drive off his sugarcane laden tractor trolley through the fastag lane in order to avoid traffic congestion in the cash lane.
Two senior officials and some bouncers of the Western Toll Plaza here were booked on Thursday for allegedly beating a farmer to death.
On February 3, the bouncers and officials of the toll plaza had allegedly beaten Sohanveer Chauhan, 32, a farmer, to death after he tried to drive off his sugarcane laden tractor trolley through the fastag lane in order to avoid traffic congestion in the cash lane. He was a resident of of Dulhera village under Daurala police station area of Meerut.
“A case of murder has been registered under section 302 (punishment for murder) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the accused, who are absconding. They will be arrested soon,” said Akhilesh Narayan Singh, SP (city), Meerut.
The case has been registered against senior manager, manager and unspecified number of bouncers of the toll the plaza, he said.
However, the deceased’s family members claimed that that toll officials were attending duty at the toll plaza everyday, but police were not making any effort to arrest them. They alleged that toll plaza officials were trying to hush up the case by projecting the death as an accident.
Deceased’s father Ramesh and his elder brother Naveen Chauhan, a software engineer in Singapore, alleged, “It was a planned murder committed by bouncers and officials of the toll plaza and now they are trying to hush up the case by projecting it as an accident to deprive us from justice.”
Meanwhile, toll plaza’s manager Pradeep Choudhaey denied the charges of murder and said that the farmer died after his tractor overturned due to over speeding and he got trapped under it. He also claimed that they had given CCTV footages to the police and he had faith in judiciary.
On the other hand, Ravindra Chauhan, second elder brother of the deceased, who was also travelling on the tractor with Sohanveer that day, claimed that toll plaza managers and staff were lying.
Narrating the incident, he said that there was a long queue in the cash lane therefore his brother, who was on wheel, tried to take it through empty fastag lane. “A bouncer approached them and got into an altercation with them. He then called other bouncers and toll officials who caught hold of us and started beating,” he said.
Ravindra said he somehow managed to escape but they continued beating his brother Sohanveer. “When I returned with some villagers and passerby to rescue my brother I was told that Sohanveer had been taken to a nearby private hospital. We reached there and doctors told me that he has died and the body has been sent for postmortem,” he added.
“Postmortem report also confirms multiple fractures in his body. There was also a deep scar on his neck,” Ravindra said.
Earlier, toll plaza officials had told police that the farmer died after a rope entangled around his neck.
After his death, farmers of the area had also protested and blocked the road near the toll plaza over the incident. The blockade was lifted after assurance of a fair probe into the matter by BJP MLA Sangeet Som, who visited the spot.
