Mumbai: Man attacks food delivery boys with bottle; one badly injured

Subham Sawant who was also attacked (right) Ankit Vinayak Chandne received eight stitches on his hand

Five food delivery boys had no idea what was awaiting them as they sat on their parked bikes outside Malwan Kinara hotel at Markar Marg in Prabhadevi on Thursday afternoon and played games on their cell phones. They were waiting to receive delivery requests when suddenly a 35-year-old man turned up from nowhere and attacked them with a broken beer bottle. While one of the victims was grievously injured and received eight stitches on his hand, the others escaped with minor injuries.

One of the Zomato delivery boys, identified as Ankit Vinayak Chandne, 25, a resident of Madhusudan Mill chawl at Worli, suffered critical injuries on his hand. The other victims have been identified as Subham Sawant, Vinayak Jadhav, Omkar Aarde and Nikhil Kadam. The alleged accused Dipak Tate is popularly known as ‘Tattu' bhai in Worli area.

According to the police, the incident occurred around 3 pm on Thursday when the victims were waiting to receive delivery requests on their respective apps. Speaking to mid-day, Chandne said, "I was waiting outside Malwan Kinara hotel at Prabhadevi to receive delivery requests and a couple of my colleagues were there with me. Suddenly an unknown man came up to us and started abusing us for idling outside the hotel after parking our bikes there. We ignored him but he attacked us with a broken beer bottle. He was drunk, but people gathered at the spot and saved us. My friends took me to KEM hospital where I received eight stitches on my hand. Later, we informed the Dadar police and registered an FIR in the matter."

Another delivery boy Sawant said, "I was checking my orders on the app when suddenly I heard a loud noise and noticed a man running towards us with a broken bottle. He attacked Ankit and later attacked me twice with the same bottle."

Zone 5 DCP Pranay Ashok said, "We have registered a case against accused Deepak Tate for attacking the delivery boys. The accused is absconding, but we are looking for him. He will be arrested soon."