Police, locals clash over murdered truck driver in Uttar Pradesh

Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh: A truck driver was today killed allegedly by Road Transport Office (RTO) staffers after he refused to pay bribe during a vehicle checking drive in Naubatpur locality in Sayyadraza area here, police said.

Anant Lal Gupta (50), a native of Kaushambi district, was allegedly beaten to death at around 5am by some members of the RTO staff, Superintendent of Police Shalabh Mathur, said.

According to the victim’s son Ashwini (23), who worked as a cleaner with his father, “One of the constables of the RTO Department took the vehicle for weighing at the weighing centre and found that the truck was not overloaded, but demanded Rs 1,000.”

His father was willing to pay only Rs 500 after which the RTO constables and one Shiv Kumar of the weighing centre beat him brutally, causing his death, he said.

After the incident, angry locals jammed the National Highway 2 in protest and turned violent, pelting stones at the police when they tried to disperse the crowd, Mathur said.

A police constable was injured in the incident and the police fired in the air and lathi-charged to control the situation, he said.

An FIR has been registered in connection with the incident, Mathur added.

It may be recalled that the National Human Rights Commission took suo motu cognizance of a media report on 21 Septemeber alleging that a woman transport officer and her colleagues in Uttar Pradesh beat to death a truck driver.

The killing was reportedly in a similar situation as the driver refused to pay the extortion amount.

The Commission observed that the contents of the media report, if true, amount to violation of the human rights and issued a notice to the Chief Secretary of the state calling for a factual report within four weeks.

PTI