Auto Drivers Assault Customs Officer After Road Tiff in Kolkata

Kolkata: A customs officer was injured after he was allegedly beaten up during vandalism at his flat by a group of angry auto rickshaw drivers and his aides, allegedly backed by Trinamul Congress, following a tiff on the road near the city. One person was arrested by the police later.

Pradeep Kumar, the injured Customs inspector, is from Uttar Pradesh. He has been posted in the city for the last nine years for his job and lives with his family at a flat in a housing apartment in Sonarpur Rajpur area in South 24 Parganas. On Saturday night, Mr Kumar was returning home, driving his car.

Suddenly, an auto rickshaw dashed his vehicle near his apartment. The Customs officer had an altercation with the three-wheeler driver over the rash driving before leaving for his address. Sometime later, a group of nearly 50-60 armed auto drivers was seen in CCTV footage storming the housing apartment where Mr Kumar lives.

They broke the collapsible gate and main door of Mr Kumar's flat for a forcible entry and thrashed him while shoving his wife. The attackers then ransacked his flat. Mr Kumar alleged that he repeatedly dialled police but got no help. The cops told him that they were busy with the immersion procession of Kali Puja. They however visited him but almost an hour after the attack.

Mr Kumar received treatment at a hospital for his head, neck and chin injuries. Narrating the horror, he said on Sunday, “At one point of time, we felt our end was near.” Leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari met and assured him assistance. The police arrested Azizul Gazi, the accused auto driver and a TMC worker, for leading the attack.