Modern Day Highway Robbers

Here is a real life experience from a Technoparkite. He says:-
Sir, Through your esteemed portal I would like to bring to the attention of my fellowmen some misdeeds happening in an around Technopark.
I took an auto from the Technopark campus that had just dropped a customer near the Technopark back gate. As I travel very frequently by auto, I got into this auto and directed the driver to leave me at Kazhakuttom. We travelled via the back gate, through outer Kariyavattom and he dropped me at a hotel very near the Kazhakuttom police station.
It was then the drama started.
The normal fare from Technopark back gate is Rs.25 (which itself is a bit exorbitant – it should be minimum fare). This guy asked me for Rs. 30. I said I stick to my principles and would not pay anyone more or less than the standard. He refused to accept the Rs. 25 I gave him. He asked me to come to the police station, as if that was his friend’s house. I refused to give him the Rs. 30, and neither did I think had any business to be in a police station. So I told him, if you want to lodge a complaint, please go right ahead. A policeman was standing nearby. When I tried to gain his attention, he just pointed his fingers to the police station with a lack of interest.
Since I could not deal with this person anymore, I gave up and entered the hotel for supper. I saw him  standing outside the hotel calling on his mobile, most probably other fellow drivers.  Soon this driver entered the hotel, caught me by my company tag and loudly read my name. When I protested, he let go and left.
When I came out of the hotel, this same driver was standing near the entrance surrounded by a few other auto drivers, his cronies. Auto drivers are sometimes like crows. When one is fallen, they all flock together.
These four guys started harassing me asking for the 30 rupees, first mildly saying, why quarrel for such a small amount, and then getting physical. Somehow I managed to escape the clutches of these goons, walked to the Kazhakuttom bus stand auto stand and returned to my office in another auto.
When I was in office for about two hours, I had a surprise. There was a policeman in our office! He said that an auto driver had lodged a complaint and he had come to investigate. How did he know where to find me? From my name the auto driver had given to this “Sherlock Holmes”, and then the location from where I was picked up made the rest easy for him. I was embarassed in front of my colleagues, my project manager and most of all our CEO. And those who didn’t know what was going on were wondering what a policeman was doing inside a Technopark office. I told the policeman I would report to the Kazhakuttom police station the next day morning as he requested.
Some of my friends volunteered to come with me to the police station the next day, wasting their precious time and money in the process. But I declined their offer of help, though noble. If they came, I thought it would be viewed as an altercation not between me and the driver but the Technopark community and Kazhakuttom auto drivers.
Luckily, my uncle is a native of Trivandrum and I went with him to the police station the next day.
We were presented before the station in charge and soon we were joined by the auto driver himself. It was a war of wits.
The auto driver argued that since he was expected to be paid the return fare, 30/- was reasonable. We raised the point that there was no designated auto stand at the Technopark back gate. Where was he returning to? Back from Kazhakuttom or to Kazhakuttom?
The police conceded our point. We also raised the issue of this guy catching hold of me by the tag and also the harassment by his cronies.
The police asked me to pay him only Rs. 25 as that was what was expected in such a situation.
Who lost in the process? I lost my four hours of my productive time, but stood by my priciples, the policemen wasted time futilely. The autodriver? He wasted nothing in the process. He did not even lose his honor for in the first place he did not have any!
What was he trying to achieve? Prove that goondaism against a software engineer would hold inside a police station? Really beats logic.
I agree not all auto drivers are like this person I described, but they are the few who give a bad name to the lot. If you travel by auto occasionally do not be brow beaten into shelling out extra money. Even if the laws of the land can’t hold some of these modern day highway robbers you have a moral duty to uphold your dignity and stand for your rights.
It has been reported that many companies in Technopark receive such complaints frequently, but inspite of complaints to the proper authorities nothing has come out.
Luckily I have an uncle in Trivandrum. But I dare not think what would have befallen a hapless Technoparkite from far off places in Kerala with no proper person for support.
Let this be my two penny contribution to make life a less corrupt experience.