Cops watch as ex-trainer headbutts ‘Duniya’ Vijay

The High Grounds police station in central Bengaluru became the setting for an intense film-like drama when Kannada actor ‘Duniya’ Vijay arrived in his Range Rover along with celebrity gym trainer, Maruthi Gowda, whom he had allegedly assaulted on Saturday night.

While walking into the station, Vijay touched his one-time trainer and rival Krishnamurthy alias ‘Panipuri’ Kitti on the cheeks, but the gym trainer headbutted the actor. The assault on the actor would have been severe had the police not intervened. Kitti is Gowda’s uncle.

After a complaint was filed against Vijay and his associates for assaulting and abducting Gowda, police contacted the actor and asked him to appear along with the victim and warned that they would file an FIR if he failed.

As Vijay arrived at the station an hour later, Gowda’s relatives and friends tried to attack the actor before the police who saved him from them.

Supporters of the actor and his adversaries gathered in hundreds outside the station, prompting the police to call a KSRP battalion to control the crowd. Kitti, the complainant in the assault case, said he was training Vijay earlier but was not on speaking terms with the actor for the past one year due to a misunderstanding.

Vijay later opened a gym in Prakash Nagar and trained with Prasad, another bodybuilder who has been arrested in the case. Prasad and Kitti were running a gym together but walked out of the partnership five years ago due to differences.

After the breakup, Kitti started the gym ‘Muscle Planet’ at Basaveshwaranagar, where several celebrities went to get fitness training. Maruthi was the main trainer for them.

Prasad reportedly could not digest the development and waited for the right time to assault Kitti and his relative which he found at the bodybuilding event on Saturday night.

Vijay filed a counter-complaint against Kitti for assaulting and vandalizing his car, based on which police registered a non-cognisable offence case.

Vijay’s 12-year-old son Samrat, who was with him during the assault incident, spent the night with the actor at the police station.

Meanwhile, Vijay’s first wife filed an assault complaint against his second wife Kirthi Gowda. Police summoned her and obtained an undertaking.

Police produced Vijay and three of his associates before the 8th ACMM Judge at his residence in Koramangala National Games Village complex. All of them were remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody.