'If cops had not come, they would have killed him': mother of jawan attacked at Meerut toll plaza

Meerut (UP), Aug 19 (PTI) "If the police had not reached the spot, they would have killed my son," said Sunita, visibly shocked and pained on seeing her 'fauji' son battling injuries after being thrashed at a toll plaza.

Speaking to reporters in Meerut on Tuesday, Sunita, her voice trembling with pain and indignation, said, "What was Kapil's fault? He had only asked them to let his car go. The goons beat my son badly. His father was locked inside the car, he could only watch in agony when his son was being beaten up. If the police had not reached the spot, they would have killed my son." She said her son was tied to a pole and beaten up by several people, like how "butchers" do.

Her son Kapil, an Army jawan posted in Srinagar, was on his way to join duty after leave, when he was beaten up by employees at the Bhuni toll plaza in Sarurpur on Sunday evening. A video of the incident that surfaced online had sparked widespread outrage.

Describing the nature of her son's injuries, Sunita said the veins on his hands and legs were torn and his thigh bone broken. The brutality in a video of the incident was so horrifying that she was unable to watch it.

When a minor argument could have been resolved through conversation, why did the toll booth workers beat him up so mercilessly, she asked.

Sunita said Kapil was her youngest son and had recently participated in the Kanwar Yatra. Both Kapil and his elder brother Sachin serve in the Army, she said.

"My son was returning to duty after his leave. He told me, 'Mummy, the train is at 7.50' and left home in good spirits. Soon the news came that there was a fight at the toll plaza. Seeing him in blood, our family was in distress the whole night," she said.

Kapil's father Krishnapal, while talking to media, denied that his son's fight was over paying the toll tax.

"On the day of the incident, I was in the car with my family members. We were going to drop Kapil at Meerut station, from where he would board the train to Delhi and then take the flight to Srinagar. When we reached Bhuni toll plaza, the workers there were fighting with passengers in a vehicle. My son got down from the car and told them, 'Bhaiya, don't fight. I will miss my flight. Let me go.' The toll booth workers asked him, 'Are you a judge? What are you?' Kapil said, 'I am a soldier in the Army. Let me go.' He showed his ID card, but they threw that away," Krishnapal said, adding that after this, four people pulled his son's hands back onto a pillar and hit him.

His family said Kapil is undergoing treatment at the military hospital in Meerut.

Meerut police on Tuesday arrested one more person, Neeraj Talian alias Bittu, in connection with the case. Six people were arrested earlier.

According to Superintendent of Police (Rural) Rakesh Kumar Mishra, Kapil, a soldier hailing from Meerut's Gotka village and posted in Srinagar, was on his way to join duty after his leave when he was brutally assaulted by toll booth staff.

Based on a complaint filed by Kapil's father Krishnapal at the Sarurpur station, a case was registered against dozens of accused under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

SP Mishra said the arrested accused -- Sachin, Vijay, Anuj, Ankit, Suresh Rana, Ankit Sharma and Neeraj Talian alias Bittu -- were identified after analysis of CCTV footage and further investigation.

Taking cognisance of the incident, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Monday had imposed a penalty of Rs 20 lakh on the toll collection agency, M/s Dharam Singh, for what it termed a "grave breach of contract".

The authority has also initiated proceedings to terminate the agency's contract and debar it from future bids. PTI COR NAV RUK RUK