Dahod: In a shocking incident that has sparked outrage across Gujarat, a truck driver was brutally beaten by an RTO inspector on the Ahmedabad-Indore highway near Asaidi village in Devgadh Baria taluka, Dahod district. The violent assault, caught on video by a passerby, has gone viral and raised serious concerns about abuse of power by enforcement officers.
The incident occurred when RTO Inspector V.K. Parmar, along with two other personnel, attempted to stop a truck heading from Mumbai to Delhi. When the driver allegedly did not halt at the checkpoint near Ruwabari, the officers threw a barricade in front of the moving vehicle. The truck hit the barricade, resulting in a punctured front tire and panic.
According to eyewitnesses, the inspector forcibly pulled the truck driver, Nasirbhai, from the cabin and beat him with a wooden stick. “I kept asking why they were hitting me, but they didn’t stop,” said Nasirbhai from his hospital bed. “I told them I was ready to pay whatever fees they wanted, but they just kept beating me.”
A passerby, Vineshbhai Rawat, husband of the sarpanch of Motahathidhara Gram Panchayat, captured the entire assault on video. “We saw two to three men hitting the driver brutally. I started recording, and when they noticed me, one of them threw away the stick and approached our car. I asked why they were beating him, but they didn’t answer,” Rawat said.
Following the incident, Nasirbhai was taken to Piplod Government Hospital via 108 ambulance. The video, widely circulated on social media, has triggered public anger, with demands for immediate suspension and arrest of the RTO officials involved.
In his defense, Inspector V.K. Parmar claimed, “The truck did not stop, so we placed barricades. When the vehicle didn’t comply and damaged the barricade, we used a pipe to scare the driver—not to beat him. The driver tried to flee, and we have filed a complaint at Piplod police station for obstructing government work.”
However, locals and transport workers allege that extortion by RTO officials is rampant in the area. “They stand at toll booths and extort money in the name of entry fees. This is not the first time, but beating a driver like this is inhumane,” said a member of the local drivers’ union.
Rawat added, “This incident must be investigated impartially. We cannot allow government officers to misuse their power to extort money and assault helpless drivers.”
