Upset about internet problems at home, IAS officer beats up 2 Airtel engineers: Report

The two Airtel engineers have filed an FIR against the IAS officer and his brother. (File photo)

When a newly installed Airtel broadband connection stopped working at home, an angry IAS officer and his brother beat up two Airtel technicians. One of them ended up with a broken toe. The incident happened in Mumbai on Saturday evening and was caught on CCTV. Two complaints have been registered but no arrests have been made yet.

According to the police, Aman Mittal, an IAS officer of the 2015 batch and deputy secretary of state water supply and sanitation department, and his brother Devesh wanted a router connected on December 30. After receiving the call, Airtel's representative Bhushan Gujar delegated the work to engineer Amritesh Singh who installed the router and left.

“Soon after, they started calling me with complaints of malfunctioning connection," Gujar told Hindustan Times. "Since Amritesh had already left, we sent another engineer, Sagar Mandhare, who was on a job in the same building. I was on a call with them all along; as soon as Sagar arrived, the brothers complained about the connection and in a fit of rage started abusing and physically assaulting him. As it seemed serious, I informed my seniors and rushed to the spot with a colleague."

On reaching Mittal's home, Gujar found Aman Mittal sitting on Mandhare's chest. When Gujar’s colleague intervened and tried to persuade the brothers to resolve the matter amicably, Devesh hit Gujar. He also called four to five others from the neighbourhood to thrash the Airtel representatives. As the fight intensified, Gujar's colleague managed to flee.

“The Mittals called Rabale police. A constable arrived and slapped Mandhare, while Aman and Devesh Mittal snatched my phone and compelled me to pay for the WiFi router through UPI. The brothers then got in touch with senior IPS officers and requested them for help. We called our bosses and the legal team. After much persuasion, an FIR was finally registered,” Bhushan told Hindustan Times. He broke a toe and suffered other injuries in the fight.

Meanwhile, Mandhare told the police that when he went to the Mittal's home to check the router and WiFi connection, it was working fine. "But then the brothers got annoyed and told Gujar on the phone that I was abusing them. Aman verbally abused Gujar. He sat on my chest and thrashed me," Mandhare said, adding that his “back is full of marks”.

"They twisted my hands and Devesh stood on it. They also used pipes and rods to beat me. Bhushan received the same treatment soon after he arrived."

An FIR has been registered against the brothers at Rabale police station, Navi Mumbai. The act was captured on CCTV, a copy of which is with the police.

The brothers also filed a cross-complaint, Hindustan Times reported, in which they claimed that the Airtel representatives had assaulted Aman Mittal first.

Further investigation is underway.

Read more: '35 MB for Rs 9': Viral post on old data prices takes Indians on a trip down memory lane