The visually impaired victim said in the complaint that the two men hit his head with a glass bottle and then used the glass piece to cut his beard and allegedly forced him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
Team Clarion
BENGALURU — A software engineer and his friend have been arrested for allegedly assaulting a 65-year-old visually impaired Muslim man and forcing him to chant the Hindutva chant of ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
Sagar Shetty Kalki, 24, a software engineer and Narasappa, 25, both residents of Gangavathi, were absconding after the incident in Koppal district on November 25 when the victim, Hussain Saab, hitch-hiked their two-wheeler.
“The accused have confessed to taking Saab near the railway underpass, assaulting him and robbing him. However, we have not found any evidence of the men putting Saab’s beard on fire nor forcing him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’,” media reports quoted Koppal district Superintendent of Police Yashodha Vantigodi as saying on Wednesday.
She said the accused who were in a drunken state allowed Saab to ride their vehicle and when he reached his destination, the man pulled Narasappa’s cap indicating to them to stop. “Furious over it, the accused took him near a railway underpass and assaulted him,” Vantigodi said.
Saab had alleged that he was beaten black and blue and was compelled to raise the Hindutva slogan.
Saab, a resident of Mehboob Nagar in Gangavathi town, became a victim of violence when he was returning home from Hospet, where he had gone for some personal work. Initially, Saab wanted to hail an auto but decided to walk the distance because of the exorbitant charges demanded by the auto driver.
“They hit my head with a glass bottle and then used the glass piece to cut my beard. They forced me to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and threatened me with dire consequences if I did not obey. Then, they also tried to singe my beard. Later, they hit me and I fell to the ground. A shepherd nearby screamed when they tried to hit my head with a stone. Then they fled from the spot. The shepherd then took me with him and called my daughter,” Saab said in the complaint.
Gangavathi town police have registered a case under sections 394 (robbery) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
