Youth stabbed, robbed, thrown out of share-auto at Thane

Pangmayung Raikhan

The victim, Pangmayung Raikhan, had boarded the shared auto-rickshaw from Pritam's Global Cuisine in Thane where he work. "His (Raikhan's) work place is hardly 15 minutes drive from his house in Ghodbunder Road where he lives with his sister. On Sunday night, he boarded the auto at 12:30am that had three passengers inside," said victim's cousin Alum who is a research analyst in Mumbai.

A few minutes later, the driver stopped the vehicle saying he had to pee. All of them got out except Raikhan, said Alum, who added, "He was seated at the corner in the rear seat of the auto-rickshaw."

"When they returned, they suddenly started thrashing Raikhan mercilessly. He screamed for help but since the stretch was poorly-lit, none of the vehicles stopped nor anyone came to rescue him. The robbers in the guise of passengers and driver stabbed him on his back and threw him out of the running vehicle on the road," Alum added.

After being thrown out of the running auto-rickshaw, Raikhan was screamed for help, said Alum. When a few passersby stopped after noticing a man lying in the pool of blood, they informed Thane (rural) police and one team reached the spot. "Raikhan was bleeding profusely when the police reached the (crime) spot. They rushed him to Vedant hospital where he has been admitted to Intensive Care Unit (ICU)," she added.

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"The doctors told us that his lung has been punctured in the stab wounds," she underscored. Alum further added that Raikhan could somehow managed to tell his address to cops who reached his house in Ghodbunder Road at 2am and informed his sister.

The registration of First Information Report (FIR) was under process at the time of going to the press.

Inspector Pradeep Ugle of Kasarvadavali police station later said, "Our team had visited the hospital in the morning but he was not in a condition to speak. We recorded the statements of the victim and his sister and registered the FIR under sections 394 (Voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code against the four culprits."

The investigating team has been working on to retrieve the CCTV footage of the stretch which the assaulters took before and after the crime. However, no suspect has been rounded up so far.

Alum further added that he is recuperating at the hospital but 'he is still in ICU'. "He needs breath support system to inhale oxygen. The doctors have told us that he is out of danger," she added.

Raikhan lived in Dehradun where he studied hotel management and worked for a few years at food joints before moving to Thane mid-June.

In a similar incident, a 23-year-old woman was molested and thrown out of the running auto-rickshaw two years ago in the same stretch of Ghodbunder Road. The woman was also travelling in the shared auto-rickshaw where two passengers touched her inappropriately. When she objected they assaulted her and threw her out of the moving auto. She sustained several bruises across her body and was rescued by passersby, who rushed her to nearby hospital.

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