Man forced to hand over wristwatch for two samosas after failed UPI payment at Jabalpur railway station, vendor arrested

A snacks vendor at Jabalpur railway station in Madhya Pradesh has been arrested by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) following a viral video showing him assaulting a passenger over an unpaid failed UPI transaction for samosa. The incident took place at around 5:30 PM on 17 October. The incident was captured on video, which shows the vendor grabbing the passenger collar who was in a hurry as his train has already started to move.

As per posts on the social media, a passenger asked for two samosas from the vendor on the platform. He wanted to pay by UPI, but the payment failed. In the meantime, his train started to move, therefore he attempted to rush to the train leaving the samosas with the vendor.

But this was not acceptable for vendor, who grabbed the man by his collar, preventing him from boarding the moving train. The vendor reportedly accused the man of wasting his time, and forced him to buy the samosas. Presumably carrying no cash, the man attempts another UPI payment, but it also failed. Realising that he will miss the train after it accelerates, the man hurriedly removes his wristwatch, which seemed to be a smartwatch, from his wrist and hands it over to the vendor. After that he was let go by the vendor.

The video also shows the vendor handing over samosas to the passenger after taking the watch. The man was then able to jump into the train which was slowly leaving the station. It is not clear if the man had already consumed some samosas for which he was held hostage.

Responding to a post on X containing the video, the Jabalpur Railway Division said that the vendor was arrested by the RPF after he was identified. His license is also being revoked. It was not mentioned whether they recovered the watch from the vendor, and whether the victim has been identified to return the watch.

Written by OpIndia Staff
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