Former Goa MLA Dies After Auto Rickshaw Driver Slaps Him During Altercation

Police said the incident occurred after the MLA booked a hotel in Srinivas Lodge in Khade Bazar where his car allegedly brushed against an auto-rickshaw while entering a narrow lane in the area.

File photo of Congress leader and former Goa MLA Lavoo Suryaji Mamledar.

Source : X/@VijaiSardesai

Former Goa MLA Lavoo Suryaji Mamledar passed away shortly after he was attacked by an auto-rickshaw driver following a minor dispute in the Belagavi district of Karnataka on Saturday afternoon, officials said.

According to a report by India Today, police said the incident occurred after the MLA booked a hotel in Srinivas Lodge in Khade Bazar where his car allegedly brushed against an auto-rickshaw while entering a narrow lane in the area. This prompted an altercation between the both.

After the confrontation escalated, the auto-rickshaw driver identified as Mujahid Sanadi, slapped the former Congress leader. Shortly afterward, while climbing the stairs to his lodge, Mamledar suddenly collapsed. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead. His body was later sent for a postmortem to determine the exact cause of death.

Auto Driver Arrested

Police arrested the auto driver after reviewing CCTV footage from the lodge’s vicinity.

On his death, DCP Rohan Jagadish, Law and Order told ANI, " Today between 1:00-1:30 pm, an altercation took place between, 68-year-old former Goa MLA Lavoo Suryaji Mamledar. The vehicle hit the auto and after that, the argument happened. Then, the auto driver slapped the victim. After that, when he was climbing the stairs of his office lodge, he collapsed. He was brought to the civil hospital in Belagavi, and all tests were done. He was pronounced dead around 2:00 pm. The accused has been identified...we are taking this case as murder."

#WATCH | Belagavi, Karnataka: On the death of Former Goa MLA Lavoo Suryaji Mamledar, DCP Rohan Jagadish, Law and Order, says, " Today between 1:00-1:30 pm, an altercation took place between, 68-year-old former Goa MLA Lavoo Suryaji Mamledar. The vehicle hit the auto and after… pic.twitter.com/TRO44yR2tr

— ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2025

Further investigation into the matter is still in process. 

Congress leader Lavoo Mamlatdar, 68, was on a business trip to Belagavi, approximately 120 km from Panaji, when the incident occurred. Before entering politics in 2012, Mamlatdar served as a deputy superintendent of police in Goa.

He was elected as a member of the Goa Legislative Assembly from 2012 to 2017, representing the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP). In 2022, he joined the Congress and contested the Goa elections from the Madkai constituency but was unsuccessful.