By IANS
Sydney : A drunk passenger brutally attacked an Indian taxi driver and stole his car in the Australian state of Victoria.
Pranay Patel, who has been driving a taxi for four months, picked up the passenger Sunday outside a hotel. Soon after, the passenger started spitting in the vehicle, the Herald Sun reported.
When Patel asked the man to stop spitting, he was repeatedly punched and his money was stolen before he was dragged out of the car. The passenger then drove off with the vehicle, which was later found in a desolate place.
Patel was left with serious bruises. The police have described the incident as a "vicious and callous attack".
Last year, some 500 taxi drivers in Melbourne, most of them Indians, organised a rally near the State Parliament House over their safety after an Indian part-time taxi driver and university student Rajeesh Joga died following an attack by a passenger who had hijacked the cab.
Similarly, many Indians living in Adelaide were targets of racial attacks last year. Police found that in most cases, young men demanded money from the victims before assaulting them.