Family alleges cabbie died due to sit-ups, not sunstroke

Hyderabad: The family members of a cab driver who was found dead on Friday in his vehicle alleged that he died due to sunstroke that he suffered after being made to perform sit-ups in the sun by a person following a road rage incident the previous day.

Neelam Kumar, driver of a Ritz car, in his complaint with the Ramgopalpet police stastion stated that his vehicle collided with an Xcent at DK Road in Begumpet on Thursday evening. Kiran Kumar, the owner-driver of the car, then roughed him up and insisted that he pay for the damage.

Neelam further stated that he took Kiran to a show-room where it was estimated that it would cost Rs 5000 for the repair work. When the complainant informed Kiran that he did not have that much money, the latter allegedly made him to do sit-ups in the hot sun, beat me up and took away whatever money he had," Neelam said in his complaint.

Meanwhile on Friday Neelam was found unconscious in his car while the Hanuman Jayanthi celebrations were on at Sikh Village. He was taken to Gandhi Hospital where he was declared brought dead.

On Friday evening, the family members of Neelam lodged a complaint with the Bowenpally police station in which they stated that he was beaten up and made to do sit-ups by a car owner, and that he should be booked for murder as Neelam died because of that assault.

Police initially could not identify Kiran, but after going through CCTV footage at the Hyundai service centre in Ramgopalpet where Neelam was allegedly tortured, zeroed in on him. Kiran was arrested on Saturday and remanded in judicial custody.