This story is from May 3, 2016

Cab wars at airport get murky, passenger beaten

Raipur: In an incident that raises serious concern over security of passengers, an industrialist was threatened and brutally beaten by a cab contractor at Swami Vivekananda international Airport in Raipur after he booked an Ola cab to travel to his destination. The young industrialist, Vinay Agrawal, director of Hira Group of Industries, sustained injuries on chest, ear and ribs.
Cab wars at airport get murky, passenger beaten
Raipur: Raipur: In an incident that raises serious concern over security of passengers, an industrialist was threatened and brutally beaten by a cab contractor at Swami Vivekananda international Airport in Raipur after he booked an Ola cab to travel to his destination. The young industrialist, Vinay Agrawal, director of Hira Group of Industries, sustained injuries on chest, ear and ribs.
The accused, an alleged serial offender, was arrested soon after the incident.
The airport authority, however, is keeping mum and no action has been taken so far against the contractor. The accused and his cousins, who are into the cab business, face a number of criminal cases.
Raipur police has been repeatedly asking the airport authority to cancel the contract because of anti-social activities being carried out by the contractor and his men, but to no avail. There were many incidents in the past when the accused and his aides thrashed flyers and cab owners outside airport premises.
Agrawal took the Ola cab at the airport after he returned from Bangalore flight on Friday at 6.30 pm. As soon as he took the taxi, a tall, stout man approached him on a motorcycle and asked him to step out. The cab driver had called him near the barricade close to terminal building.
"He asked me to take out my luggage while he continued to abuse. This man abused and threatened me for booking the Ola cab. He grabbed me by the collar and assaulted me for nearly 20 minutes. None of the airport security turned up to rescue me," he said.
Quoting medical report, Agrawal said he has suffered with blunt trauma to chest and tenderness over rib 4,5 with a blow hole in his ear drum.
"If this has happened to a person from Raipur, what would be happening to passengers who are new to this city, they don't even think of approaching police," he said.

A case was lodged at Mana police station following which accused Pravesh Dubey was arrested under sections 341,294,323 and 506 of the IPC.
Mana police officials maintained that Pravesh was a serial offender and his cousins Vikas and Vinay Dubey, who have been booked in five cases each in the past, have a contract agreement with airport with a counter name of Shivam Travels to provide cabs.
Talking to TOI, Mana police station in charge Virendra Srivastava said that Pravesh has been listed as an anti-social element in police record.
"While police have already written to airport director Santosh Dhoke, alerting him about the miscreant, we wrote another letter soon after the industrialist was thrashed," Srivastava said.
The copy of letter, in possession with TOI, sent on April 29 and January 31, states that Pravesh, Vinay and Vikas Dubey, who have served jail terms in the past, have contract and entrance permission at airport. The letter also states that Raipur airport was among the most hyper-sensitive airports in country, with continuous movement of VVIPs, including ministers, President and Prime Minister of India. Hence, airport is supposed to submit to the police a list of all vendors associated with it but Airports Authority of India (AAI) has not complied yet.
Raipur range IG GP Singh, "This is a serious matter and we have been consistently receiving complaints. Pravesh Dubey along with his cousins have been arrested and it is a clear case of airport authority supporting the goons under the garb of taxi contractors.
The Dubey's, who hail from Uttar Pradesh, reside at Rajendra Nagar and have been associated with airport without character certification from police. Similar accusations came to light against the parking contractors as well and police are going to take severe action now." Talking to TOI, airport director Dhoke said that an inquiry committee of five members was formed to look into Agrawal's case and a detailed report would be made after recording statements of eye-witnesses to submit before regional headquarters at Kolkata. "It would be headquarters' and tender commission's decision to continue with Dubey's contract or take action," Dhoke said. He claimed that Pravesh had submitted NOC to the airport given to him by police, while airport has received only one latest letter from police alerting them about Dubey's offences.
"Moreover, as the incident took place outside terminal building, it's police's call to play the main role," Dhoke added.
On banned entry of Ola and other cabs at airport, Dhoke explained, "We are bound with rules and regulations; any private agency wanting to operate via airport premises has to pay the royalty. Ola hasn't signed any tender with us and hence it doesn't have any counter and isn't allowed to pick passengers from airport premises. If they wish to operate they must secure a licence from airport."
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About the Author
Rashmi Drolia

Rashmi is a Special Correspondent with The Times of India in Chhattisgarh. She covers Politics, Left Wing Extremism, Crime and Human Rights among other areas of news value.

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