Chowdhury

Lucknow, Sept. 22: The chief executive of the Indian subsidiary of a leading Italian auto components company was bludgeoned to death by workers in one of India’s showpiece industrial zones, dealing another blow to the sector clouded by the Singur storm in Bengal where such militant trade union violence once reigned.

L.K. Chowdhury, the 45-year-old managing director of Oerlikon Graziano Transmission India, was repeatedly clubbed on the head by union members demanding reinstatement of 11 employees sacked for “underperformance” two months ago.

The assault took place in Chowdhury’s Greater Noida office.

Chowdhury, survived by his college lecturer wife and son, had been MD for a decade.

Police said an attempt today to find a solution went horribly wrong because of a gunshot by a security guard. No Graziano official was available for comment.

The company, one of the top global manufacturers of automobile gears and transmission components, which caters to high-end brands like Ferrari, Audi and Lamborghini, has its production facilities for India in Greater Noida’s Udyog Vihar, the industrial hub of Uttar Pradesh, employing over 500.

Police sources said the company had asked the 11 employees to come for talks with the chief executive at 11.30am. Around 150 members of the local trade union — Udyog Vihar has an umbrella labour organisation — accompanied them.

Senior superintendent of police (Noida) R.K. Chaturvedi said the simmering tension burst into the open when an overzealous security guard, eager to keep the restive union members at bay, fired in the air.

Those inside Chowdhury’s room took the gunshot as a signal of intimidation and one of them dashed to see what had happened. Seeing him rush out, the waiting union leaders thought the talks had failed.

Around 50 of them, most of them carrying iron rods, hammers and batons, charged into Chowdhury’s chamber and repeatedly struck him on the head. The security guards were overpowered and beaten.

The attack is reminiscent of Bengal’s militant union violence. Several white-collar employees of jute mills have been brutally killed by labourers: some were set on fire, others shot and at least one was thrown into a cauldron of boiling water.