DNA
- Five-star hotel employees allegedly beat up three youths following parking row
Mumbai, Dec 10: Blame it on a parking row. A young restaurant owner was seriously injured while two friends with him sustained minor injuries when a manager and employees of a five star hotel in south Mumbai allegedly beat them up with belts, sticks and iron rods, and even hurled flower pots at the victims, in the wee hours of Sunday December 9.
Aziz Lalani, 29, who owns a restaurant in Colaba, fractured his skull and sustained neck injuries. He has been admitted to the Intensive Care unit (ICU) of Bombay Hospital. His friends - Anand Tiwari, 27 and Gaurav Agarwal, 28 - sustained back injuries, and had been discharged after primary medication.
Tiwari, a Kalina resident who is into construction business, said, “The incident took place around 2 am on Sunday. Me, Aziz and Gaurav went to Hotel Intercontinental on Marine Drive for coffee. Reaching there, we drove our Toyota Innova towards the parking lot, but were stopped by hotel employees who refused to let us park within the premises.”
With the trio in no mood to let up, a verbal altercation followed. “Soon, 10-12 employees attacked us and dragged us out of the car. They started beating us with sticks, belts and iron rods. One of the security staff struck Aziz on the head with a heavy flower pot, and he slumped to the ground, unconscious. Me and Gaurav rushed him to Bombay Hospital,” Tiwari said.
Aziz’s father, Sultan, a resident of Bandra, spoke to DNA while he was waiting outside the ICU. “I came to know about the incident around 3 am, and came rushing.”
Senior inspector Dilip Chavan of Marine Drive police station said that a case had been registered against some of the hotel employees. “We have also arrested security manager Edwin Noronha. He has been remanded in police custody till Monday,” he said.
Chavan added that the hotel had filed a counter complaint against the trio. “A staff member has filed a complaint against Tiwari, Lalwani and Agarwal for severely injuring some employees.” Police would also probe the complaint against the injured youth.
In spite of repeated phone calls, DNA failed to reach the hotel management. An employee, who answered one of the calls, said that the hotel’s version would be faxed to us, but the promise was not kept.