Security guards, auto drivers fight outside Mumbai airport, three injured

At 2 am on Saturday, three guards employed with a private security firm allegedly attacked Avadhprakash Pandey, one of several drivers who was waiting in queue outside the airport.

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This was the third such incident in a month. (Representational)

A clash broke out between security guards and auto-rickshaw drivers outside the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Saturday morning. This is the second clash that has broken out between the two groups in the last three months over the issue of drivers picking up passengers outside the authorised queues.

At 2 am on Saturday, three guards employed with a private security firm allegedly attacked Avadhprakash Pandey, one of several drivers who was waiting in queue outside the airport. The police said Pandey had allegedly jumped the queue and picked up passengers away from the designated pick-up point, prompting the guards to berate him.

However, according to Pandey’s complaint, the guards — Arun Mane and Nitin Warangal — began to assault him, prompting other drivers to come to his rescue. In the melee, three auto drivers were injured. After being warned by the guards, the drivers were admitted to Cooper Hospital.

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An official at Sahar police station said Mane and Warangal were booked for voluntarily causing hurt under the IPC. No arrests have been made yet, the police said. According to Advocate Prabhakar Tiwari, who is representing Pandey and advising the local auto-rickshaw drivers’ union, trouble has been brewing between the drivers and the guards since June, when a violent clash broke out between them.

On June 11, security guard Raju Walunj was on duty outside the airport and was directing drivers and passengers to the designated pick-up point. He spotted auto-rickshaw driver Sunil Yadav picking up passengers away from the pick-up point and had told him that he would file a complaint against him with the airport authorities. “The driver drove away but later returned and attacked the complainant near J W Marriot Hotel,” said the officer. The police had arrested Yadav and six others.

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