BEST truck driver beaten up at Vikhroli

A BEST truck driver was beaten up by locals at the Vikhroli bus depot on Monday.

A BEST truck driver was beaten up by locals at the Vikhroli bus depot on Monday.

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The truck, while taking a turn to enter the Vikhroli depot, hit a bike.

The police are on the lookout for seven unidentified accused who allegedly beat up the on duty BEST driver.

An officer from Vikhroli police station, on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to talk to the media, said: "Around 2.45 pm, Devidas Padval, 51, driving a BEST material lorry was taking a left turn to enter the Vikhroli depot on Veer Savarkar Marg. While taking the turn, the rear portion of the bus hit a biker."

The biker fell off his motorcycle and sustained minor injuries.

He added, "The locals were angry that the bus driver did not stop. Around seven of them entered the depot, pulled Padval out of the bus and beat him up. He was rushed to Rajawadi Hospital and was discharged on Monday night."

Padval did not know that he had hit a biker until the angry group of people surrounded him. "I could not understand why the crowd was attacking me. Only later did I find out that while taking a turn, the bus hit the bike. I was unaware about it or else I would have stopped the bus," Padval said.

The police are yet to identify the accused as they fled soon after attacking the driver.

The BEST staff at the Vikhroli depot were at the exit end of the depot and so they were not aware about the incident.

The police said: "We have managed to get an eyewitness and we are trying to narrow down on the accused."

Last week, a BEST driver ran over a two-year-old girl at Bandra and was beaten up by a mob. He died of his injuries while undergoing treatment at Lilavati Hospital.