Two Employees Arrested, Case Filed
Srinagar- Two toll plaza employees on Tuesday were arrested for allegedly assaulting a Kashmiri truck driver in Hoshiarpur District of the neighbouring state Punjab.
Sahil Iqbal, a resident of Yaripora in Kulgam district, was roughed up by the employees of Mukerian toll plaza following an altercation over FASTag payment. Iqbal, who was on his way to Uttar Pradesh with truckload of apples, sustained injuries in the assault and was simultaneously shifted to the civil hospital in Mukerian.
“It all started over toll tax. The FASTag mashing apparently wasn’t functioning properly and the employees asked me to pay in cash. When I refused and told them that I have recharged my FASTag last week only, they cornered and started beating me and my helper,” Iqbal told Kashmir Observer.
The alleged assailants, he said, soon brought iron rods and sticks to vent their anger at the driver-conductor duo. In the alleged assault, Iqbal said, his phone was also damaged.
“I would not have been alive had the fellow drivers and police me from the clutches of the toll plaza employees,” Iqbal said.
Meanwhile, police have filed a case FIR number 173/2022 of IPC and arrested two of the accused, J&K Students Association said Tuesday.
JKSA National Convener, Nasir Khuehami said the arrests were made after the association took up the issue with Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan.
Quoting DSP Mukerian, Kulwinder Virk, the JKSA Convener said both the accused have been identified and arrested.
“The matter is being dealt with as per the law,” Virk told Khuehami.