Residents snatch cop's lathi, smash him on head after he says 'go home'

A policeman was allegedly attacked by seven to eight people near Benson Town, North Bengaluru, on May 8 after he warned them against violating social-distancing rules and asked them to go home. The group got angry, snatched his baton and attacked him, according to police.

Santosh Kumar M, a constable from the JC Nagar police station, was patrolling the streets of Muddamma Garden along with a sub-inspector in order to close down commercial establishments after 7 pm as per the new lockdown timings.

Around 8.15 pm, the constable went to the second cross of the locality only to find that nearly 10 people had gathered at the second cross of Muddamma Garden for no apparent reason. At this time, the sub-inspector was patrolling another street.

Kumar reminded them of the lockdown rules and asked them to disperse. The men got into an argument with him and allegedly questioned his authority. Some of them abused him when he warned them and allegedly snatched his baton. One of them even smashed the baton on the constable’s head multiple times while others pushed and kicked him. Kumar was wounded, police said.

Police sent reinforcements after learning about the attack and rescued Kumar. Seeing the policemen, the attackers fled the spot but police later tracked down three suspects. They were identified as Rizvan Khan, Sultan and Ridwan Khan, all from Muddamma Garden. They have been detained for questioning. A case has been registered against under the relevant IPC sections.

The injured constable was hospitalised for treatment.