Caravan News

CHENNAI – A 32-year-old auto driver, Abdullah, who tried to stop his passenger from getting harassed at a restaurant, was allegedly beaten to death in Tamil Nadu’s Trichy district on Sunday. But the police laughed off the case terming it a drunken brawl.

The victim’s family said that not a single person came to his defense as he was beaten mercilessly by four men, according to the News Minute website.

Abdullah was a resident of Muslim street in Trichy city. He had left his residence around 11 am and was taking a female passenger to Trichy’s Famous Biryani restaurant, where he was killed. As the woman had to pick up a parcel, Abdullah waited for her at the restaurant.

“According to what eyewitnesses told us, an inebriated man, who was at the restaurant, purposely smacked into the woman. My husband immediately questioned the man and the people with him, and then, a tussle ensued. They hit each other and then the drunk man left, threatening to bring more people. But my husband didn’t take it seriously. However, he did come back with three men and they all hit him till he died. They used a wooden plank to beat his head” Tashmin Banu, Abdullah’s wife was quoted by The New Minute as saying.

Tashmin, who has two young children that she now has to support financially, said a complaint was filed on Sunday night with the local police.

Srirangam Assistant Commissioner of Police K Ramachandran, however, laughed off the case terming it a drunken brawl.

“Abdullah was also inebriated and he died because he was pushed to the ground and sustained head injuries. It was not a big fight,” he said. When asked whether the reason behind the brawl was that a woman was harassed, he responded, “It was. The man who allegedly harassed this woman is Nagarajan, who was also drunk,” the officer argued.

However, Tashmin vehemently denied that her husband had been inebriated.

“He would never drink and drive. He was with another passenger. I don’t believe why the police are saying so,” she says, her voice breaking. “All he did was fight against people harassing a woman and there is nothing wrong in that. Not even one person in that restaurant came to help him and now the police are saying this,” she said.