Mumbai road rage: Sion man kidnapped over parking dies of assault injuries

A fight over parking space has ended in tragedy, with a man losing his life after being kidnapped and brutally thrashed.

mid-day's report on March 24

This newspaper had reported how 50-year-old Subramaniam Merala, a Sion resident, had asked the driver of an SUV, Rajendra Thakur (30) to park his car ahead.

Also read: Man kidnapped, beaten up over parking spat

Thakur had gone to Sion to meet his friend, and had parked the car just off the Eastern Express Highway. Merala felt the car was blocking pedestrian space.

As an argument ensued over the issue, Thakur lost his cool. He and his friend forced Merala into their Toyota Fortuner, drove him around the city in it, assaulted and thrashed him during the drive, and threw him out at Kalanagar junction.

Merala got himself admitted to Bhabha Hospital with the help of bystanders; his brother shifted him to Sion Hospital, where he was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

'Book him for murder'
Unit IV of the Crime Branch arrested Thakur, who works as a driver for a Navi Mumbai-based doctor, on the same day. They sent him to judicial custody two days later. He was picked up from his Vashi residence. His acomplice is still on the run.

However, Merala's brother Venkatesh feels the accomplice was the doctor himself. He told this correspondent, "The case was filed against two individuals, but the other one is still missing. I believe he was the driver's boss, the doctor."

Venkatesh further added, "Cops should book the accused under Section 302 (murder), as my brother was in the ICU after the attack and died this morning.

The police say they are still searching for the second accused and cannot trace him. They should arrest him immediately." When asked about the cause of death, Venkatesh said, "We don't know. The doctor said they needed to send the body for further tests, which would precisely determine the exact cause of death."