Youth from Dagdi chawl holds rickshaw, passenger hostage

A motorcycle rider from Dagdi chawl mdash the den of former gangsterturnedpolitician Arun Gawlimdashcreated a ruckus with an auto rickshaw driver on the Western Express Highway WEH and blocked the path of the threewheeler at Goregaon in which a female passenger was seated on Thursday The nightmare lasted over two hours at night and the woman passenger alleged that cops including the Nirbhaya Squad did not arrive despite her calls On the other hand when the youth called the cops they arrived within few minutesThe hotheaded youth Suraj Ramadin Sonar is a mobile mechanic and lives with his parents near Jacob Circle Sonar was over speeding and the rickshaw driver had to apply brakes to avoid an incident Following this the woman alleged the youth stopped the rickshaw from going aheadPriyal Kalas the passengerSources in the traffic police told midday ldquoSuraj is a habitual traffic offender and often has been echallaned for not following traffic rules At present six echallans are pending against him since June 2022 Around Rs 4500 fine has to be paid but he continues to violate the trafficrdquoSonar was not a wearing helmet at the time he created ruckus causing traffic jam for a brief period on the WEH said the autorickshaw driverPassenger abusedThe passenger Priyal Kalas who is an HR professional in Powai was returning home when the youth first indulged into heated argument with the autorickshaw driver whose mobile phone and ignition key he snatched Sonar also used foul language with Kalas when she intervenedKalas got terrified and started to dial police control room and also Nirbhaya squad repeatedly for more than an hour but her desperate calls went unansweredAfter nearly two hours Sonar dialed some personal numbers of policemen with whom he shared his location and a policeman drove a van to the spot within 5 minutesldquoI was travelling from Powai to Kandivli in the autorickshaw It was around 845pm when the motorcyclist forced the driver to stop the autorickshaw in the middle of highway We were in Goregaonrdquo Kalas recalled ldquoThough the driver was not at fault the rowdy youth continued his rant in the middle of the road and later he snatched driverrsquos mobile phone forcing him to park the autorickshaw aside The driver apologized to the youth though he was not at fault When I tried to pacify the motorcyclist he gave me a look and asked me to keep mumrdquo she addedWhere were copsldquoI got terrified and dialed the Mumbai police control room but my calls went unanswered Later I also dialed the Nirbhaya Squad but none of the calls was answeredrdquo she recalledThe Nirbhaya Squad was launched last year in January and it was claimed by Mumbai police that the cops can reach women in trouble within a few minutes anywhere ldquoI continued to struggle on the road for police help for nearly two hours but none of them responded to my calls I was in a hurry to reach home as my threeyearold daughter as well as elderly motherinlaw had been waiting for me When they learnt that I would not travel ahead as the key of my auto had been snatched by the rowdy motorcyclist my relatives got worriedrdquo she recalledHer husband as well as brother left their office assignments midway to rescue KalasA few passersby tried to convince Sonar to resolve the matter and let her go home but he allegedly replied saying ldquoAbhi mai pura bambai hilaa dalegahellip wo janti nahi hai mai kaha se aata huhellip bahut dekhe hain maine iske jaisersquolsquoI was not at faultrsquoThe autorickshaw driver Chhatradev Sah told midday ldquoHe had been driving recklessly on the road Had I not stopped the vehicle he could dashed mine But he started shouting at me for no reason Though I said sorry for no fault of mine he did not let me to go The youth also badmouthed me and inched closer to me to assault but the passersby intervened and saved me I did not lose my temper as I am an outsider and came here to earn my livelihood I follow all the traffic rulesrdquo ldquoMore than three hours got wasted due to this incidentrdquo he addedIt is learnt that the cops had detained the youth from Dagdi Chawl at Vanrai police station but after Kalas and driver left the premises he was let offldquoThe cops just jotted down a few details of mine and a brief note about the incident but they did not give me any NC or FIR copy I reached home around 1230 amrdquo Kalas saidlsquoShe called me chhaprirsquoTalking to midday Sonar said ldquoI was going to see someone at hospital in Kandivli when the incident took place When I was talking to the driver a female passenger started to shout at me When I asked her to keep quiet she called me lsquoChhaprirsquo This riled my nerves and asked the driver to keep the vehicle aside and called police Most of the parents of my friends are in police department and I know everyone as I live in Jacob CirclerdquoldquoAt the police station the cops threatened to book me in a case under section 509 of IPC Later the cops booked me under section 110 of Bombay Police Act and slapped me a fine of Rs 1250 I paid and left Vanrai police stationrdquo Sonar told midday Senior Inspector Rampiyare Rajbhar of Vanrai police station said ldquoWe have not registered an FIR or NC on Thursday night We donrsquot have information about the woman and if anyone was caught he will be released with a warning We have to check about this incidentrdquo