14 booked in Vadodara: 8 arrested day after clash at petrol pump

According to Pathan’s complaint, the clash broke out when one of the accused, Prince, arrived at the petrol pump on Sunday evening to refill fuel in his two-wheeler for an amount of Rs 50.

The FIR quotes Pathan as saying, “I made a mistake and filled the tank for Rs 140. When the accused (Prince) said he did not have extra money and could only pay Rs 50, I asked him if I could pull out the extra petrol worth Rs 90 from his fuel tank. He agreed and I did so, but when he saw the fuel in the bottle, he began abusing me and called up another man (one of the co-accused) to bring a group of men to the petrol pump.”

Pathan’s complaint further states that the accused — along with eight others — then allegedly assaulted him and hurled abuses at him for belonging to a “different community”.
While the commotion was on, Joshi, who sells ice candy near the petrol pump, was also attacked allegedly by supporters of Pathan. In his FIR at Padra police station, Joshi identified five accused and said that they were allegedly led by the owner of a restaurant near the fuel station. They allegedly threatened Joshi to shift to another location.

“The accused threatened me with dire consequences and damaged my cart while assaulting my wife, my son and me. They continuously asked me why I was setting up my cart in the vicinity of the hotel,” Joshi was quoted as saying in the FIR.

According to the police, officials of the Padra town police station rushed to the spot on receiving a call and dispersed the crowd. Both Pathan and Joshi were rushed to SSG Hospital for treatment of injuries.

Those booked in the FIR filed by Pathan have been identified as Ajay Parmar, Montu Bhopa Darbar, Mahendra Darbar, Kani, Nikul Rajput, Vicky Rajput, Bhavesh Mali, Anil and Prince. The accused identified in the FIR filed by Joshi include owner of Padra Bombay Restaurant named Adil and his brother, Salim Jani, Bhikhu Painter, and Sikander Bodiya.

All accused are booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon), [294(b)] (uttering obscene words in public, [506(2)] (criminal intimidation), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (Rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (member of unlawful assembly with common objective).