BENGALURU: Furious over a passenger hiring a Rapido bike taxi to go home after arriving at the Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal (SMVT) at Baiyappanahalli, a gang of autorickshaw drivers allegedly assaulted him and the rider. The bike rider left the station in tears and did not work the rest of the day. Narrating the incident to The New Indian Express, Syed Mudassir, who works as the Head of Operations at a real estate firm, said, “I had boarded the Hatia Express at Katpadi at 2 am on Monday. It arrived three hours late. As soon as I got out of SMVT at 4.45 am, I tried booking an Ola or Uber but could not find any. By 5 am I was able to book a Rapido bike taxi. He reached within five minutes.”
High drama ensued after he sat pillion on the bike. “Just as the bike was leaving, an auto driver pushed me from behind and hit my neck. He screamed that I was not supposed to call bike taxis as they were illegal. He snatched my phone too and due to loss of balance both I and the bike rider, Mohammed Sharif, fell down. His feet got trapped underneath his bike and he was shouting for help.”
“Later, the auto driver was joined by five other drivers waiting nearby who started raining blows on us. The rider was crying and pleading for mercy. One of them had my phone and I snatched it and ran outside the station,” he added. Giving photos of the bruises he suffered due to being pushed off the bike, Mudassir added, “My internal injuries are extreme. I have severe pain in the back, shoulder and leg. I slept the whole day due to the pain.”
Mudassir later went out of the SMVT station, took a share auto and reached his destination near Cantonment railway station. Sharif confirmed that he was beaten up by auto drivers. “Both my legs have got severe injuries. They damaged my bike very badly. There was not a single cop to help us inside the station. Finally, I found one policeman (Chandrashekhar) outside and told him I wanted to file a case. I was told to bring the footage of the incident and come and file a complaint at the Baiyappanahalli police station.”
Bengaluru Divisional Railway Manager Shyam Singh said the station had security with Railway Protection Force personnel posted there. He also said he was not aware of any such incident. Both the RPF and the Government Railway Police were completely in the dark about it.
Baiyappanahalli Inspector Venkatachalaiah said SMVT would come under the Banaswadi police station limits and he would speak to the Inspector there about it. “No cop has the rights to tell a victim to bring footage proof. We will look into it,” he said.