Former Goa MLA Lavoo Suryaji Mamledar died shortly after he was attacked by an auto-rickshaw driver over a minor dispute in Karnataka’s Belagavi on Saturday afternoon, officials said.
According to police, the incident took place after Mamledar (68), who represented the Ponda constituency from 2012 to 2017, had booked a hotel in Srinivas Lodge in Khade Bazar. As his car entered a narrow lane in the area, it allegedly brushed against an auto-rickshaw, triggering an altercation between the two.
The confrontation escalated when the auto-rickshaw driver, identified as Mujahid Sanadi, slapped Mamledar, a former Congress leader.
The politician later collapsed while climbing the stairs of his lodge and was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. His body was later sent for postmortem examination to know the exact cause of his death.
The accused auto-rickshaw driver was arrested after police examined the CCTV camera installed near Mamledar’s lodge where the incident took place.
“The incident took place after a collision between Mamledar’s car and an auto-rickshaw. The auto driver slapped Mamledar during the altercation. Shortly after, as Mamledar was climbing the stairs to his lodge, he suddenly collapsed. He was immediately rushed to the civil hospital in Belgaum, where doctors pronounced him dead at around 2 pm,” Jagadish Rohan, DCP, Belagavi said.
Further investigation into the matter is underway.