Thane Cab Driver Arrested After Assaulting 70-Year-Old Man Over Spitting Dispute

A 70-year-old man was brutally assaulted by an app-based cab driver near Jupiter Hospital in Thane after he objected to the driver spitting on the road. The Vartak Nagar police have arrested the driver, Nishant Shukla, while the Thane Regional Transport Office (RTO) is considering the cancellation of his driving licence and transport permit.

The victim, Sarosh Dastur, sustained a fractured leg during the assault, which took place on Tuesday evening. A senior official confirmed that Dastur is scheduled to undergo surgery for his leg injury at Jupiter Hospital.

The confrontation began when Dastur objected to Shukla spitting on a public road near the hospital. Police claimed that Shukla verbally abused Dastur before physically assaulting him. The accused also allegedly picked up a stone to strike the elderly man on the head. A video recording of the assault subsequently went viral on social media.

Initially, Dastur was reluctant to file a formal police complaint due to severe mental distress and trauma from the attack. The police registered an attempt to murder charge and arrested Shukla only after a local Shiv Sena office-bearer stepped forward to file the complaint on Dastur's behalf.

On Thursday evening, Vartak Nagar police and a forensic science team escorted Shukla back to the footpath outside Jupiter Hospital under heavy security. The authorities conducted a scene-of-offence panchnama and reconstructed the sequence of events. Investigators used the reconstruction to determine where each individual stood, how the assault unfolded, where the stone was sourced, and who intervened to stop the attack.

During the investigation, police recorded statements from several eyewitnesses at the spot, including street food vendors and political workers who had intervened during the incident. Shukla was later produced before a Thane court, which remanded him to two-day police custody.

Thane RTO head Hemangini Patil stated that the transport department is currently examining the legal findings of the case. Patil noted that the RTO may initiate formal proceedings to suspend or cancel Shukla’s transport permit and driving licence, subject to the final outcome of the police investigation.

The incident has also drawn significant political attention. Lok Sabha MP Shrikant Shinde and MNS chief Raj Thackeray both reached out following the assault.