A 45-year-old cab driver was killed, allegedly by two men who boarded his vehicle, on Sunday night. The family of Aftab Alam, a resident of Trilokpuri in Noida, alleged that the killers forced him to chant Jai Shri Ram before his death.
The Wire reported that Aftab’s 20-year-old son Mohammad Sabir had got a call from his father minutes before his death in which the accused can be heard asking Aftab to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Sabir said he started recording the call as soon as he sensed his father was in danger.
In the audio, the accused can be heard laughing and saying “Bol Jai Shri Ram…” and then “Bhai tu Jai Shri Ram bol” a few seconds later. The victim’s response is not audible.
“My father had gone to drop one of his old clients at Bulandshahr yesterday at around 3 pm. He made the drop at around 7 pm and left for home. On the way he called me and told me to recharge his Fast Tag. I did that at around 7:30 pm and then after a while I got a call again, I think this was from near a toll booth. He had probably sensed that some men he had come across were not the right sort of people, so he called me and possibly put the mobile phone in his pocket,” the report quoted Sabir as saying.
The next day, police found Aftab’s body tied to the side of his own cab.
Police said that prima facie, it appears the accused were drunk and boarded the cab to steal it. A case under section 302 (murder) has been filed at Badalpur Police Station.
