NOIDA: A 45-year-old taxi driver died in Greater Noida on Monday after he was allegedly attacked by unidentified persons who boarded his cab in western Uttar Pradesh. The victim's son who recorded his father’s last call, made minutes before his death, alleged that he was forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram”.

The deceased was identified as Aftab Alam, a resident of Delhi's Trilokpuri area, police said and also denied any communal angle to the incident.

"A police patrolling vehicle found the Delhi-registered taxi parked along the Badalpur-Dadri bypass road. On checking, a person was found on the seat next to the driver's seat in a severely injured condition. The police immediately rushed him to a hospital where he died during treatment," Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Noida, Harish Chander said, as quoted by a news agency.

"He had picked up a passenger from Gurgaon and dropped him in Bulandshahr. While returning, some other passengers boarded his cab for Delhi without a booking. En route to Delhi, they had a fight and the driver was attacked, leading to his death," the officer said.

The accused are absconding and the mobile phone of the deceased driver is also missing, police said.

It seems a fight had broken out between the driver and the passengers due to the ride charge but exact details can be ascertained only after the culprits are nabbed, officials said.

However, according to a leading web portal, Alam’s 20-year-old son Mohammad Sabir said he received the first call from his father around 7 pm. He had asked Sabir to recharge his FASTag. After that, during the second call, at 8.39 minutes, a man is heard saying: “Jai Shri Ram bol, bol Jai Shri Ram [say Jai Shri Ram]”. Eleven minutes after this conversation, at 19.41-minute mark, one of the accused says that Alam has stopped breathing. “He had probably sensed that some men he had come across were not the right sort of people, so he called me and possibly put the mobile phone in his pocket,” Sabir told The Wire.

The call was recorded for the next 40 minutes. Sabir said he had sought help from Mayur Vihar Phase I police station. “His tongue area was badly bruised, ears were bleeding, there was a big cut on his face,” Sabir said. “This is clearly a case of mob lynching...We are Muslims, but we have a right to live.”

Rajiv Kumar, assistant commissioner of police 2 Zone 2 Noida, said Alam was found with head injuries, while the accused had escaped, as reported by a leading daily.

"There is no communal angle to this case and it appears the accused had a history," Kumar was quoted saying.

An FIR has been lodged at the Badalpur police station under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder) and 394 (causing hurt in robbery). Further investigation is underway.