IMPHAL, July 2: In yet another case of high-handedness by relatives of people in power, the brother of a senior cabinet minister reportedly brutally assaulted a bus driver yesterday.
The assailant is reported to be the brother of state health minister, L Jayentakumar yesterday.
The victim has been identified as one Ningthoujam Dhanakuber, 40, s/o (late) Bira of Wangkhei Keithel Asangbi, Imphal-East. His left eye has been damaged severely due to the assault.
Speaking to mediapersons today at his residence, the victim driver Dhanakuber said that the incident occurred yesterday at around 1:30 pm near Thangal village in Senapati district when a Bolero jeep tried to overtake the Imphal-Guwahati bound tourist bus driven by him.
He could not let the jeep to take over owing to the narrowness of the road, he said.
However, at one point when he let the jeep to take over his bus, the jeep suddenly collided with a bus coming from the opposite direction. He had not noticed the collision and he drove straightway. But, after some time the jeep followed and stopped his bus near Senapati district hospital.
One L Dhane, who identified himself as the brother of health minister, called him out of the bus. The passengers pleaded Dhane not to assault the driver as he had done nothing wrong with regard to the collision. But, he was dragged away by the minister’s brother up to the backdoor of his Bolero jeep and assaulted him with a tyre lever. His left eye was injured severely in the assault.
Dhane allegedly threatened that he could have killed him (driver) if he had a gun at that time, Dhanakuber told mediapersons.
He was then rushed to Senapati district hospital by the minister’s brother. Later, he was referred to RIMS. The health minister L Jayentakumar himself came to enquire his condition at RIMS.
Dhanakuber further appealed to the concerned authority to prevent such untoward incident in the future.