Assaulted by two in Kharghar road rage, IT professional dies

NAVI MUMBAI: Another incident of road rage has claimed the life of a 45-year-old IT professional in Kharghar. Shivkumar Sharma, the victim, was returning home from work on his bike when two motorcycle-borne men waylaid him for overtaking, enetered into an altercation and repeatedly struck Sharma on the head with a helmet on the stretch between Belpada and Utsav Chowk, late Sunday night.
The accused fled after the incident while Sharma approached police to file complaint. Within a few minutes, however, he collapsed at the station and was rushed to a private hospital where doctors declared him dead.
Kharghar police have registered a case of murder against the two accused men. The duo are being traced with the help of a video of the incident which was recorded by a passerby.
Deepak Surve, senior inspector of Kharghar, said deceased Sharma worked as a project manager with an IT firm in the Real Tech Park commercial building near Vashi railway station.
He resided alone in a rental apartment in the Cidco-built Swapnapurti housing society in Sector 36, Kharghar. His Aadhaar card, however, showed his residence address as Vashi, where his sister resided. Police then informed his sister about the incident.
On Sunday night, Sharma was returning home on his bike after office hours. When he reached near Utsav Chowk, two men on a bike waylaid him and claimed he overtook their bike in a way that could have caused a collision. An altercation ensued between them after which one of the accused, wearing a black kurta-pajama, caught hold of Sharma while the other accused, wearing a green kurta-pajama, repeatedly assaulted Sharma's head with his white helmet.
Inspector Surve said passersby gathered at the spot, and one of them video recorded the attack on a mobile before the duo sped away. "Sharma came to Kharghar police station to lodge a complaint. There were no external injuries on his head, but he collapsed at the police station after alleging assault on him. He was rushed to the nearby Medicover Hospital in Kharghar, where he was declared brought dead. The doctors informed the cause of death was due to severe internal head injuries from the assault," said Surve.
The accused, aged between 22 and 25 years, have been booked under relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita for murder, criminal intimidation, and common intention. To get leads of the accused, police are scanning footages from CCTV camera surveillance on the road leading to the crime scene and also along the road ahead of Utsav chowk till Central park. The mobile video recorded by the passerby does not capture the bike registration number of the accused, said Surve.