38-year-old truck driver dies as owner brutally thrashes and locks him up in a container

BENGALURU: A vehicle owner, had allegedly thrashed a duo and locked them up in the container of a truck for 6 hours, because they had damaged the truck in an accident near Tumkur. This led to the death of a 38-year-old truck driver and his colleague had sustained some serious injuries. 

Basappa Mallappa Nesargi who was a resident of Khanapur, which is located in North Karnataka. The other driver, Somappa, has been admitted at the Tumkur government hospital.

Nesargi and Somappa were driving a 10-wheel container truck which was ferrying the spare parts of motor bike from Pune to Chennai. The accident took place on the 11th of December near Sira in Tumkur district on National Highway-48. 

Five people, including the truck owner Balappa M, who is a resident of Belagavi, have been arrested based on murder charges and has been handed over to the judicial custody.

As per the police, Balappa had brutally attacked the drivers and locked them up inside the container which did not have any ventilation. “We are waiting for the postmortem report to know whether Nesargi died of the beatings or suffocation,” said the police. 

All the trouble had began when, Nesargi rammed another truck near the Sira junction. Though no one was hurt in anyway, the windshield of Nesargi truck was completely shattered. He then called Ballapa, who was accompanied by four friends, he reached Sira that particular night in a multi-utility vehicle.

On the 12th of December, Balappa had demanded Rs 50,000 from Nesargi. “Nesargi said he couldn’t pay such a huge amount and would quit the job. Enraged, Balappa beat up Nesargi while his friends thrashed Somappa. After locking them up, they went to Tumkur for lunch,” police said.

Ballapa and his friends had returned at 4 PM and as they opened the container they found the duo lying unconscious. “They shifted them to the government hospital and doctors declared Nesargi brought dead. Soon, Balappa and the others fled,” added the police. 

The hospital authorities had alerted the police and Somappa dictated their ordeal to the investigators. “We traced the accused in between Chitradurga and Davanagere,” police said.