Toll plaza employee beaten to death by car passengers on Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway

Scuffle broke out as staff delayed processing toll payment for luggage auto that didn't have FASTag

A toll plaza employee was beaten to death by two car passengers around Sunday midnight in a scuffle over removing a boom barrier on the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway, police said.

Police have identified four suspects and vowed to apprehend them by Tuesday morning.

Around 9.30 pm, a luggage auto-rickshaw took longer than expected to pay the toll at the NHAI's Sheshagirihalli toll plaza, about 30 km west of Bengaluru.

The auto didn't have a FASTag, and the driver was asked to pay double the toll in cash, as per the rules. Meanwhile, a Hyundai i10 headed for Bengaluru from Mysuru pulled up behind the auto. It had a FASTag and four passengers.

The car driver got impatient and sounded the horn, asking the staff to remove the boom barrier so he could pass. The staff didn't pay heed.

One of the passengers got out of the car and picked an argument with the toll plaza employees — Pavan Kumar Nayak and Manjunath. But things didn't escalate immediately.

The car moved on and stopped some distance away. All passengers got off the car and brawled with the staff. A video posted on social media shows both sides punching and kicking each other.

While the car left, two men waited about half a kilometre away. Nayak and Manjunath finished their shift around midnight and walked to a nearby lake for drinks.

As Nayak and Manjunath sat on the lake parapet, car passengers ambushed them, beating them with clubs. Nayak suffered a grievous head injury and was rushed to BGS Hospital. He succumbed to his injuries early Monday morning. Manjunath also suffered injuries but is out of danger, police said.

"It was a road-rage incident. The car passengers were furious because the staff took time to process the toll payment for the luggage auto," Ramanagara Superintendent of Police Karthik Reddy told DH.

Nayak, 26, was from Sikkepalya, a hamlet near Tavarekere in the Ramanagara district.

Inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March, the expressway has toll plazas at Kaniminike and Sheshagirihalli. Users often complain about mismanagement and accuse toll plaza staffers of rude behaviour.

Officials from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) were unavailable for comment.