Kathmandu, March 29

Police have arrested a cabbie whose callousness allegedly resulted in the death of a passenger.

According to Metropolitan Police Range, Kamal Bahadur Shrestha, 29, of Dolakha was apprehended from Gaushala area yesterday. He had fled by dragging Gopal Karanjit, 60, of Gokarneshwor Municipality-4 out of his taxi after the latter passed out at around 11:00am on Wednesday. Gopal was a patient of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Pravin Karanjit, son of Gopal, had hired the taxi for his father to return home after undergoing medical check-up and treatment at Chabahil-based Medicare Hospital.

Pravin rode his motorcycle and hence his father was alone in the cab. A few minutes after Gopal boarded the taxi, he complained of severe chest pain and passed out. Kamal dragged him out of the cab and fled the scene.

DSP Hobindra Bogati, MPR spokesperson, said security personnel took him to Helping Hand Community Hospital, which pronounced him dead. “We arrested the cabbie on the basis of CCTV footage after police identified the registration number of the taxi.”

DSP Bogati said Kamal was charged with mistreatment of the commuter.

“We have also solicited medical reports of Gopal for further investigation into the case. If post-mortem report showed any evidence of assault behind his death, we will act accordingly,” he said.

Kamal has told the police that he was scared after  the commuter started shouting in pain and passed out, and fled by  pulling him out of the vehicle to avoid legal hassles.