Couple assaulted in road rage incident on LBS Road

The victim told the police that when he tried to stop them, they grabbed his collar and began beating him. His wife came to his rescue, but the accused allegedly beat her, and molested her too

MUMBAI: When a couple driving on the LBS road on Sunday afternoon overtook the car in front of them, little did they know they would become victims of road rage. The family they had overtaken allegedly assaulted the couple, damaged the car with heavy stones, and was eventually booked by the Park Site police in Vikhroli.

When a couple driving on the LBS road on Sunday afternoon overtook the car in front of them, little did they know they would become victims of road rage (representative image). (Photo by Raj K Raj/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

According to the police, the victim, Avinash Nivale, 35, his wife, their 7-year-old son and Nivale’s father were heading home to Ghatkopar in their Ertiga. As per Nivale, when he reached Gandhinagar at 2:30pm, the accused were travelling in the same direction, but driving in the middle of the road.

When Nivale overtook their car the accused sped up, overtook him, and blocked his way. In the FIR, Nivale claimed that they had deliberately blocked his car and stopped him from going ahead.

As per the police, when both vehicles stopped at the signal in front of the R-city mall, the victim got out of his car and asked one of the accused why he was blocking his vehicle. Nivale alleged that the woman in the car began abusing him claiming that she was an Regional Transport Office (RTO) officer and threatened to suspend his license. The verbal spat escalated when the two accused got out of the car and one of them threw a heavy stone at Nivale’s car, breaking the window.

Nivale told the police that when he tried to stop them, they grabbed his collar and began beating him. His wife came to his rescue, but the accused allegedly beat her, and molested her too. One of the accused threw a cement block lying nearby at the couple. Senior inspector Santosh Ghatekar said that Navale then admitted his wife in a private hospital as she had suffered a severe head injury.

“We have registered a case against the accused,” said Ghatekar and added that the police were verifying whether one of the accused was indeed an RTO officer as she claimed. “They were brought to the police station and after we recorded their statement, they were allowed to go,” the police added.