An emergency response vehicle (ERV) team had reached the spot and by then, the accused had fled, an officer said, adding that passersby did not take the victim to a hospital. “The ERV reached the spot and an officer in the team attended to the victim’s mother’s call. They took him to a hospital soon after,” he added.

Dayal’s brother, Mukesh, said, “They (the police officer) told us our brother met with an accident and we quickly tried to speak with him, but the officer said that he (Dayal) was in bad shape. Police took him to Shiva Hospital and when we reached around 9 pm, he had died.”

Mukesh said that before his mother called to enquire about what had taken place, they were informed of the incident by the owner of the tempo traveller.

A cousin of the victim said Dayal had been working as a driver for 20 years. “How can they beat him to death due to an accident? All we want is the police to arrest all the four accused,” he said.

No arrests have been made yet, police said.

Meanwhile, police said the Sadar police station received a call from Shiva Hospital, reporting Dayal’s death during treatment due to injuries that he had sustained. An FIR was registered under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) at Sadar police station against unknown persons.

The officer at the police station said they are collecting CCTV footage from surrounding areas to identify the accused. “So far, their identity remains unknown and we are trying to trace them based on other inputs. Passersby had said the accused were in a Swift car,” he said.

Dayal is survived by his mother, who is differently abled, his wife and their 14-year-old son. The family said they received the body on Sunday after a post-mortem and the final rites were conducted in the evening.