A 28-year-old man was brutally assaulted and beaten to death by a mob on the evening of October 12 in Malad East, Mumbai. The victim, Akash Maeen, owner of a travel agency, moved to Hyderabad this year with his wife Lavina and had come to Mumbai to gift a car to his parents in Dussehra.
The incident occurred when Akash and Lavina returned from the car showroom on their bike at around 6.30 pm on Saturday. “Akash and I were on the bike near Pushpa Park in Malad East when an autorickshaw overtook us inappropriately from the wrong side,” said Lavina. Akash, who maintained the balance, confronted the autorickshaw driver and told him to drive carefully. The auto driver was identified as Avinash Kadam (30). Lavina also mentions that the auto driver got agitated when Maeen told him to drive carefully, and the driver started to abuse them in front of the passengers in that autorickshaw.
The driver then halted his vehicle in front of the victim’s bike and continued abusing him. “That is when I started recording and clicked pictures of him that irked him further, and he pushed me hard, and that caused my phone to drop,” adds Lavina. She also adds, “My husband got furious when he pushed me and caught hold of his collar. Then the driver’s other friends came to his rescue and started hitting my husband”.
Lavina mentions that the mob hit Akash with measuring weights from a nearby grocery store and stones, and at least 25 passersby were clicking pictures and shooting videos, but none stopped the altercation. After around 25 minutes, the police arrived at the spot and told the attackers to stop; otherwise, the victim would die. After hearing this, the attackers leave Maeen and flee from the place. The victim was then rushed to Jogeshwari Trauma Centre, where he was declared dead.
Police inspector Raees Shaikh of Dindoshi police station said that they arrested Avinash Kadam and the other eight men who assaulted the man. The nine accused were booked under the charges of murder and produced in the court. Till October 22, the accused are remanded in the police custody.
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