The owner of a recreation centre allegedly made his three employees hold burning camphor on their palms to prove they didn’t damage toilet pipe.
Sharath R, who runs the recreation centre at Balepet Circle near KR Market in central Bengaluru, was livid after finding out that a pipe in the toilet had been burnt. He asked three of his employees — Divakar P, Sharath and Gopala — as to who burnt the pipe.
When the staffers denied doing it, he started beating them up and issued vile threats. Then in a fit of rage, he held their palms, put camphor on them and lit it up.
He asked them to stand still, saying the camphor has special powers to identify the culprit: it would not burn the person who’s truthful.
Camphor’s powers
The three men couldn’t bear it for long as the camphor started to burn their palms. As they started crying out in pain, Sharath refused to pay their salaries and even threatened them if they complained to the police or informed their families. The incident occurred on March 3.
The trio later got themselves treated at a hospital and approached Sharath to get their salaries but he refused to pay them. Finding no other option, they approached City Market police on Sunday. Police have booked Sharath under IPC sections 323 (assault), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons) and 506 (criminal intimidation) on the basis of a complaint filed by Divakar. According to Divakar, he had been working at the centre for the past seven months. A police officer said that they were trying to track down Sharath.