CHENNAI: A 34-year-old techie was allegedly beaten to death by an Ola cab driver in front of his family in a dispute over accommodating passengers in his cab on Old Mahabalipuram Road in Chennai on Sunday.
The deceased, H Umendar (34) of Guduvanchery, had gone on an outing with his wife Bhavya (34), two children, and Bhavya's sister and her two children.
According to Inspector A Govindharaj, the family stepped out of a mall in Navalur after watching a movie around 3.30 pm. "Bhavya booked the cab. When the vehicle arrived, the family allegedly rushed into it," Govindharaj said.
The cab driver, N Ravi (41) from Salem, who was allegedly enraged by the family getting into the vehicle without his permission, asked them to get out and enter after confirming OTP.
After everyone got down, Umendar allegedly slammed the vehicle's door, the police said, and added, "Ravi picked up an argument with Umendar saying that he should have booked an SUV instead for seven people. As the war of words continued, Ravi slammed his phone on Umendar."
According to Bhavya's complaint, Umendar fell unconscious after Ravi punched him several times, police said. Umendar was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. Meanwhile, Ravi attempted to flee but was caught by onlookers.
The Kelambakkam police registered a case, arrested and remanded Ravi on murder charge. Umendar was a software developer in Coimbatore, and had come to Guduvanchery on Saturday to spend the weekend with his family, police said.