Angry for not giving him way, man drags out cabbie from car, batters him to death with baseball bat

A man killed a cab driver by repeatedly hitting him with a baseball bat allegedly after he refused to give the accused way in Ghaziabad’s Khoda Colony, police said Thursday. Lakhan Singh, the 32-year-old driver with a popular ride-sharing app, was killed Wednesday night after an argument broke out between him and a local youth, Mohit Yadav, when they reached near 'Nanak ki Puliya', they said. Singh was on his way to pick up a passenger when the argument took place over giving way to Yadav, who was coming from the opposite direction, they added.

Soon after, Yadav broke open the window pane of Singh's car, dragged him out, and attacked him with the baseball bat, police said. He then fled the spot leaving behind Singh, who was rushed to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to injuries, they said.

An FIR has been lodged on the basis of a complaint filed by the cab driver's elder brother Gopal Singh. CCTV footage of the area has confirmed the incident, a senior police official said.

Police are conducting raids to nab Yadav, Assistant Superintendent of Police Aparna Gautam said.

A Hindu Business Line report said that as road rage incidents soar, some lawmakers, police departments and other stakeholders are demanding that ‘behaviour patterns’ that qualify as road rage be defined under the Motor Vehicle Act, which is pending key amendments.

V Vijay Sai Reddy of YSR Congress Party is of opinion that the term ‘road rage’ must be clearly defined in the Motor Vehicle Act.“Road rage means the sudden, violent and aggressive behaviour of the automobile driver in response to the actions of other road users, endangering the lives of others,” he said in Parliament last year.

There is still no clarity on number of people killed in road rage incidents. In 2015, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reported over 45,000 incidents that caused injury under ‘rash driving’ and ‘road rage’. However, a Home Ministry response in Parliament in 2017, on the issue of road rage, said that in 2015, 4,702 people suffered injuries while 1,388 died due to road accidents followed by violence causing injuries.The Home Ministry response cited NCRB data under the ‘Accidental Death and Suicides in India’ section.