Illustration used for representational purpose.

VADODARA: A refusal to lend his two-wheeler was enough to not only break the joints of a welder’s friendship but also left him mauled.

Such was the ferocity of the cannibalistic outburst that welder Pawan Sharma, a resident of Khanpur, was left bed-ridden for a few days, nursing more than just a broken relationship.

On Monday evening, Sharma met his 17-year-old friend near Deen Dayalnagar in Gotri, who asked him to lend his scooter as he wanted to go to a paan kiosk to smoke. Sharma refused. This angered his teen friend so much that the minor started an argument with him, which later escalated into fisticuffs.

According to police, the minor scratched Sharma’s face and throat with nails and also bit into his right thumb. A profusely bleeding Sharma was also threatened by the teen not come to the locality any more or else face dire consequences, before he left the scene.

Sharma got his hand dressed at a private clinic and later lodged a complaint with Laxmipura police station of assault and criminal intimidation against the boy.

Sharma earlier stayed at the housing settlement in Deen Dayalnagar before moving to Khanpur where he works as a welder in a fabrication workshop. On that fateful day, Sharma had come to Gotri for some work at a tailor’s shop where the ‘friend’ met him.

Police detained the boy, who is currently preparing for his Class X exam, on Tuesday and presented him at a local court which granted him bail.

A cop, however, said that Sharma and the boy were at loggerheads over a previous fight they had a few months ago when the duo was drunk. Due to the previous confrontation, Sharma did not want to lend him his scooter.

