Tempo crushes man to death, drags him in road rage incident in Surat; driver held

Surat: A 56-year-old man was crushed to death and dragged by a tempo after he argued with the vehicle's driver over his rash driving in Gujarat's Surat city, police said on Sunday.

The accused driver, Mayur Mer (39), was arrested within hours as the CCTV footage of the accident showed the tempo running over the victim and dragging him even as his son tried to get the enraged driver to stop the vehicle, an official said.

A case was registered against the driver at the Katargam police station for the incident that occurred at Ratnamala crossroads around 3.30 pm on Saturday.

He said the victim, Jitendra Kanthariya, and his son were waiting at a traffic signal when the tempo hit their motorcycle.

As per the FIR, the father-son duo asked the tempo driver to drive properly, and the latter got angry and started verbally abusing them.

The duo had a heated argument with the tempo driver over rash driving. When the victim got off the two-wheeler and approached the tempo driver, the latter crushed him and dragged him for around 15 feet before escaping.

Kanthariya died on the spot, the official said.

The accused claimed in a statement that the father-son duo had tried to assault him for driving rashly, and when he tried to escape, one of them stood in front of the vehicle, he said.