Mid-day Exclusive: 40-year-old tanker driver shoots proof of his own murder

An 18second video clip and a few photos which a tanker driver shot on his mobile phone minutes before his death in a road rage incident on the MumbaiAhmedabad highway led to the arrest of his four assailants within 12 hours of the incident getting reported with Naigaon police on October 1 A policeman privy to the details of the case said that the tanker driver was killed over minor car damage that could have been repaired for Rs 4000The lynchers beat the tanker driver on the road continuously for 25 minutes between 611 am and 636 am The driver shot the video on his mobile and clicked photographs of his lynchers and of their car when they were vandalising his tanker The lynchers have been identified as Sebastian Valathuparambil 53 Utsav Brijkumar Sharma 25 Vikki Ashok Barot 23 and Vivek Mahendra Pawar 30Accused Utsav Sharma right and Sebastian Valathuparambil with back to the camera near Naigaon police station PicsHanif PatelValathuparambil is a labour contractor Sharma works as a branch manager at a moneylending bank Barot is a smalltime dancer in the film industry and Pawar sells Ganpati idols The tanker driver has been identified as Ram Kishore 40 a native of Unnao district Uttar Pradesh He was heading from Pune to Gujarat and the four men were travelling in their car when the incident took placeThe incidentAround 6 am on October 1 Kishorersquos tanker brushed the grouprsquos car by mistake near a dhaba in the Maljipada area on the MumbaiAhmedabad highway Right after the incident the four men verbally abused Kishore Then they overtook the tanker and blocked its path with their car pulled Kishore out of the tanker and beat him all over his body especially in the face and back said a sourceldquoNone of the passersby came to rescue our tanker driverrdquo said Dakshinamoorthy Chettiyar the manager of the transport company Kishore worked for A police source said ldquoThe brutal attack began after the four accused in the car made a screeching halt right in front of the tanker forcing Kishore to stop the vehiclerdquoRam Kishore the tanker driver killed in the incidentldquoAll the four men including car owner Valathuparambil came out of the car hurling verbal abuses One of them climbed into the tanker where Kishore sat and pulled him down on the road The incident took place near a dhaba in Maljipada on the MumbaiAhmedabad highwayrdquo the police source told midday ldquoWe have learnt that Kishore had been requesting his lynchers to spare him as there was a minor dent in the car and he was ready to bear the cost of repair but they ignored his plea and continued to rain blows on his face and backrdquo said ChettiyarAssistant Commissioner of Police ACP Vasai division Padmaja Badhe said ldquoThe men had become so aggressive that they picked up a few stones lying nearby and thrashed the tanker driver with them The stones broke Kishorersquos ribsrdquo ldquoThe men also pounded Kishorersquos head with the same stonerdquo a police officer said ldquoLater the men also damaged the windshield and head lamps of the tanker by pelting stonesrdquo said ChettiyarSenior Inspector of Naigaon police Ramesh Bhame said ldquoKishore made the video and clicked photos of the accused and their car when they were attacking his tanker With the help of the carrsquos registration number we traced the owner and the backtoback arrests were made within 12 hoursrdquoA screen grab of the video shot by Ram Kishore shows the assailants attacking his tankerDriver alerted nephewldquoKishore was completely injured He was bleeding profusely and writhing in pain when he called his nephew Suraj Kushwaha who is also a tanker driver Both of them were travelling together from Pune to Gujarat before Kishore got stuck in the incident on the highway Kushwaha had continued towards Gujaratrdquo Chettiyar saidldquoAn injured Kishore sent the video and photos from his mobile phone to Kushwaha and also called him He narrated the incident to him and asked him to return immediately to help himrdquo Chettiyar said Kushwaha stopped his tanker boarded a tempo to reach Kishore who was 5kmaway ldquoKushwaha informed me about the incident I suggested that he rush Kishore to the hospital in an ambulance When Kushwaha reached the spot Kishore was in the driver seat of his tanker and was nearly unconsciousrdquo Chettiyar saidRam Kishorersquos tanker with the damaged windshield right Car in which the four assailants were travellingKushwaha rushed Kishore to the hospital in an ambulance but he was declared brought dead by the doctors ACP Badhe said ldquoWe had initially registered an FIR under Sections 304 culpable homicide not amounting to murder 427 causing loss or damage and 34 common intention of the Indian Penal Code IPC But after the postmortem report came in we learnt that Kishorersquos ribs were damaged The damaged ribs further punctured the lungs leading to death So we are in the process of adding Section 302 murder of the IPCrdquoAll four accused live in Nalasopara Virar and Vasai areas of Palghar district The police have seized Valathuparambilrsquos car When arrested the four assailants were not aware that the tanker driver they beat succumbed to the injuries5 kmDistance between Kishore nephew when incident occurred