NAVI MUMBAI: Taloja police have arrested a 40-year-old truck driver who had absconded after fatally assaulting a 45-year-old truck driver on his head with an iron rod in the truck parking lot of Nisha Transport company in Nitlas village near Taloja industrial area in Panvel taluka on July 14 early morning.The accused was arrested from Valsad railway station, Gujarat on Friday, while he was escaping by train to his home town in UP.The arrested accused has been identified as Ramesh Kumar Yadav and the murder victim as Chandan Pandey, both hailing from UP.Sagar Nikam, PI (crime) of Taloja said, “The murder was an outcome of the Pandey versus Yadav caste discrimination, especially in UP. The accused Yadav had fatally assaulted the victim Pandey as the latter being a Brahmin used to humiliate Yadav from OBC by treating him as inferior, as claimed by the accused Yadav.”PI Nikam informed, “On Monday night, an argument has ensued between Pandey and Yadav in the parking lot over caste discrimination. As they quarrelled, the other truck drivers intervened and resolved the matter. On Tuesday around 5.30 am, again both of them quarrelled, when Yadav assaulted on Pandey’s head with an iron rod that proved fatal.”“Pandey escaped after threatening other truckers if they attempted to catch him. The security guard Mohammad Alam Hajif-ul Khan (58) informed the police. Pandey was rushed to Panvel sub-district hospital where he was declared brought dead. Subsequently, a murder case was registered against the accused Yadav. His photograph found in his parked truck was immediately circulated to the GRP and RPF at railway stations where multiple trains heading to UP halt.”“On Friday, the Valsad GRP informed us that Yadav has been detained at Valsad railway station while he was travelling in an express train to escape to his hometown in UP. Our police team reached Valsad and arrested Yadav. The Panvel JMFC court has remanded Yadav to police custody untill July 21.”