21 September,2013 01:27 AM IST | | Sagar Rajput
The traffic constable posted at Bhandup village road last afternoon did not anticipate the mean fight a cabbie put up to stave off paying a fine. He started pounding the cop, stationed just 100 metres from the Bhandup police station. The cabbie was arrested, but only after additional force was called in to rein in his tantrum.
A fine fight: Taxi driver Rakesh Tiwari yesterday assaulted constable Sunil Surve (left, with black pouch), after being asked to pay the penalty for driving with an expired licence. Pics/Siddharth Dhadve
According to police officials, the incident took place around 1 pm on Friday at the village road junction in Bhandup, when constable Sunil Surve stopped the accused, identified as Rakesh Tiwari.
Speaking to MiD DAY, constable Surve said, "Tiwari was talking on the cell phone while driving his taxi. So I stopped him and asked for his licence, which had expired in August."
The constable then asked the taxi driver to pay fine, as laid down by the rulebook. "But when I asked him to pay the fine, he snatched away his licence and started hitting me on my face," said Surve.
One of Surve's colleagues sent out a wireless message alerting the police of the assault, after which Bhandup police officials arrived at the spot. When the cops caught hold of Tiwari, he went berserk and started throwing punches at them, thrashing and hitting the officials. After struggling awhile, the cops brought his fit under control and took him to the police station.
While being taken away, Tiwari was heard yelling at the top of his voice that he was not some bank robber. At the time of writing, a senior inspector from the Mulund traffic division had arrived at the Bhandup station to discuss with the constable whether he wished to file a case against Tiwari.
Tiwari has been booked under sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty) and 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant) of the Indian Penal Code. u00a0
