Patna: A truck driver died after falling ill at a sack warehouse in Patna’s Didarganj police station area, with his family alleging that he was assaulted by the warehouse owner following a dispute over a Rs 6 lakh demand. Police, however, said no visible injury or assault has been established so far and the exact cause of death will be clear only after the post-mortem examination.The deceased was identified as 45-year-old Ramesh Rai, a resident of Banbira village in Samastipur’s Morba block. He had brought a truckload of sacks from Raipur to a warehouse on Mahuli Road in Didarganj on Saturday evening. According to his family, the warehouse owner claimed that the sacks were wet and demanded Rs 6 lakh from him as compensation.Family members alleged that the owner assaulted Ramesh when he could not pay the amount. They said Ramesh had informed them over the phone about the dispute. He later fell ill and was taken to hospital, where doctors declared him dead.Meanwhile, members of the local truck drivers’ association staged a protest on Sunday morning, placing Ramesh’s body at the warehouse gate and demanding action. Police asked the victim’s family to submit a written complaint and assured them that appropriate legal action would be taken based on the findings.The protesters later agreed to let the body be taken for post-mortem. Police said the deceased’s family would submit a written complaint, following which an FIR would be registered and further action taken according to the investigation.Didarganj SHO Sunil Kumar said police received information about Ramesh’s death on Saturday evening. “When he was taken to the hospital, doctors declared him dead. His body has been sent to NMCH for post-mortem,” he said.The SHO said police had not found any apparent injury suggesting an assault when they examined the matter. He added that the cause of death could be a heart attack, blood pressure-related complication or something else, but this would only be established after the medical and post-mortem reports. The police also checked the CCTV footage from the warehouse.
