Dairy owner, son fling hot tea at man for smoking

A father-son duo, who run a dairy shop at Vashi, were arrested for allegedly injuring a bystander by flinging boiling tea on him after the two objected to him smoking a cigarette outside their shop. Apparently, the accused have a history of violence and were arrested earlier in an assault case. They have also harassed the police in the past by bringing fights within the family to the police station and forcing them to register complaints. At around 11.30 am, Sunil Sondkar (24), a finance executive with a leading bank, was smoking outside Ramkher Dairy near the APMC market at Vashi when the incident took place. Ramkher (50) asked Sunil not to smoke outside his shop, which led to an argument. He then called his son Ajay when they lifted a pail of boiling hot tea and flung it on the victim. They also began throwing other utensils at him when passersby intervened and attacked the duo. “We were driving by when we spotted the commotion and rescued the accused from the mob fury. They would have probably been lynched had it been a little late. The two have given us a lot of trouble by getting into fights and we are considering externing them. We are also thinking of writing to the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) recommending them to cancel their shop license,” said senior PI Dnyaneshwar Bhong of APMC police station. Ramkher and Ajay have been arrested under Section 326 of the IPC. Mr Sondkar, meanwhile, is out of danger and his face and eyes were spared from burn injuries. However, his chest is severely burnt. He is recuperating at a hospital in Nerul.