RTO official dining with actor assaulted by her friend

An RTO official was caught in the crossfire when he tried to intervene during a heated argument between Kannada actor Ragini Dwivedi and one of her friends at a star hotel on March 15. He was left with a head injury after the actor’s friend hit him with a beer bottle.

Ravishankar, the RTO official, was having dinner with Dwivedi and other friends at the Ritz-Carlton, Residency Road.

Shivaprakash, a friend of the actor’s, came up to their table around 11 pm and got into a heated argument with her. When Ravishankar tried to intervene, Shivaprakash grabbed a beer bottle and smashed it on his head, bleeding him in no time. Other members of the group separated them and whisked Ravishankar away from the hotel. Ravishankar later approached the jurisdictional Ashoknagar police and filed a complaint. Police booked Shivaprakash under IPC sections 324 (assault using dangerous weapons), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke the breach of peace).

Dwivedi could not be reached for comment as her phone was switched off. On his part, Shivaprakash claimed that he was in Mysuru and that he was being “unnecessarily” dragged into the matter.