MUMBAI: A software engineer was beaten up at a traffic signal in Vashi , merely because he objected to the honking of an SUV . Abhishek Mukherjee (38) suffered a broken forearm, which had to be set by surgery and the use of titanium plates. Doctors say he will take at least four months to recover and his medical expenses will amount to nearly Rs 3.5 lakh.

His three hot-headed assaulters—Preetpal Sandhu (40), Sahil Dogra (20) and Digvijay Singh (22), residents of Ulhasnagar’s Punjabi Colony—were booked for assault, but given bail the same day.

“On Friday evening, I was headed home to Koparkhairane in an autorickshaw that I took from Vashi railway station. At Shivaji Chowk, the driver of a white SUV started honking. I requested him to stop that as the signal was to soon turn green,” said Mukherjee.

This irked the driver, who moved closer to the auto and started blaring the horn with greater frequency, in defiance. So, Mukherjee knocked on the window of the SUV to make yet another request. “The vehicle’s three occupants got off and thrashed me. They punched my face so hard that later I had to get internal stitches on my lower lip. I heard the auto driver telling them not to fight inside as that might damage his three-wheeler,” Mukherjee said. “It was broad daylight, but no one helped me. I must have been unconscious for about 20 seconds. When I came around, I saw my left arm dangling like a pendulum.”

Mukherjee, who had noted down the SUV’s registration number, contacted a senior IPS officer for help. “Additional commissioner of police Javed Ahmed immediately intimated the Navi Mumbai police about my case. They traced the accused to Ulhasnagar and arrested them,” he said.

He is certain that the nature of his forearm injuries indicates that his assailants used a heavy rod or something like that. “Doctors told me the radius and ulna bones of the forearm, which are strong, cannot be shattered like they are in my case without the use of a weapon,” said Mukherjee, who has urged the police to use a harsher IPC section (326; assault with a weapon) to ensure that the culprits are jailed without bail. The section that has been slapped on them is 325 (assault), which is bailable.

The Vashi police are studying the CCTV footage of the assault. “The accused have said they did not use a weapon,” said an investigating officer.