A dispute over seating arrangement on a UP Roadways bus took an ugly turn when the driver and conductor bit the ear and finger of a passenger.

The passenger, identified as Kuldeep Kumar of Sidhauli in Sitapur, lost a portion of his left hand’s little finger, part of ear, gold chain and Rs 19,600 in the incident on Thursday.

“I boarded the bus number (UP34-T9813) going to Biswan in Sitapur from the Kaiserbagh bus station Lucknow and sat on a seat. However, the conductor asked me to take another seat. When I asked the reason, he instructed me to get off the bus.

This snowballed into a verbal spat. Later, the driver and their aides started beating me. One of them then bit my ears. The outer layer of the ear got severed. They also bit my little finger on my left hand and other body parts. My gold chain and Rs 19,600 that I was carrying with me was also looted,” he alleged.