Three days after the death of farmer Sohanveer Chauhan, the accused named in the FIR are yet to be arrested. Chauhan was reportedly beaten to death by the bouncers and officials of western UP toll plaza when he was trying to pass from there in his sugarcane laden tractor-trolley through a fastag lane.
The toll officials, however, are trying to project it as an accident and said that the tractor-trolley overturned due to its fast speed hence claiming the life of the farmer.
Sohanveer Chauhan (32), a farmer from village Dulhera, had died on February 3 at Western UP toll plaza. He was crossing the plaza along with his brother Ravindra when the incident took place.
While giving an eyewitness account, deceased farmer’s elder brother Ravindra Chauhan said that they were passing through the western UP toll plaza and due to the rush of vehicles on the cash lanes, Sohanveer decided to pass through the fastag lane which was vacant. To this, the officials and bouncers of the toll plaza objected which led to an altercation as a result of which they started thrashing the brothers badly.
Ravindra somehow slipped from there to get some help while his brother was being beaten up. But when he returned with the villagers his brother was missing while the tractor trolley was parked at the roadside where he had left it. When he inquired about Sohanveer the plaza officials told him that he has been taken to a nearby private hospital. Then Ravindra and the villagers reached the hospital where they were informed by the doctors that Sohanveer had died and his body had been sent for post mortem. They approached the police but are still waiting for some action.
Ravindra said that the postmortem report confirms multiple fractures in the body, his jaw was also broken, and there was a deep scar visible on his neck. According to Ravindra, the toll plaza officials claimed that a rope was entangled around his neck then later changing the story they said that a live electric wire fell on him. “While it is a cold-blooded murder they are trying to project it as an accident,” he said.
SP (city) Akhilesh Narayan Singh said, “A case of murder has been registered on the complaint of the family members of Sohanveer but the accused are absconding and would be arrested soon.”
While denying the claims of the police, the farmer’s family members claim that the toll officials are present at their office and police are making no efforts to arrest them. They said that hundreds of farmers of village Dulhera had protested against the incident at Daurala police station which compelled the police to register a case of murder against the senior manager, manager, and bouncers of the toll plaza but no one has been arrested so far.
“The police is not cooperating with us,” charged Naveen Chauhan, elder brother of Sohanveer, who is a software engineer working in Singapore.
Though BJP MLA Sangeet Som visited the bereaved family members and assured them of action against the accused nothing has happened. The toll plaza officials have denied showing the family the CCTV footage while Sohanveer’s sugarcane laden tractor-trolley is still lying along the road showing no signs of overturning as claimed by plaza officials. A few meters away from this spot some bloodstains are still visible on the road.
Toll plaza manager Pradeep Choudhary denied the charges of murder and said that the tractor overturned due to overspeeding which caused his death.