'Unfare' Bengaluru: ASI assaulted by two auto drivers

An assistant sub-inspector was kicked and assaulted for objecting to exorbitant auto-rickshaw fare while a head constable was beaten with a log when he tried to apprehend a drunk motorcyclist.

Kariyanna, an ASI attached to the State Crime Records Bureau, was beaten up by two auto-rickshaw drivers outside the Bengaluru Cantonment railway station when he objected to exorbitant fare on Wednesday.

The policeman sought to hail an auto to Lingarajapuram, about six kilometres away, but the driver demanded Rs 200, almost three times the fare. Kariyanna said he would not pay more than Rs 10 on the fare but the driver didn’t budge. A heated argument ensued, and the driver pushed him out of the auto.

Kariyanna decided to escalate the matter by noting down the auto’s registration number. Seeing this, the driver and one of his colleagues kicked and punched him. He fell to the ground and started bleeding. Passersby came to his rescue and shifted him to a hospital. He sustained multiple injuries.

Once the treatment was over, he filed a complaint at the jurisdictional High Grounds police station. Police have taken up a case of assault, wrongful restraint and provoking breach of peace.

Head constable Raghavendra N M, 33, posted at the Pulakeshinagar traffic police station, was assaulted by drunken youth while carrying out a drunk-driving check along Promenade Road near the Military Compound on Saturday night.

Raghavendra was with assistant sub-inspector Prabhuswamy and constable Yenkanna Biradar, intercepting drunk motorists by putting up a barricade. Some motorcyclists saw the barricade and took a U-turn to flee. In the melee, one rider lost control of his two-wheeler, crashed it into a road divider and ended up falling down.

Raghavendra ran to his rescue. But the youth, identified as Binny Sebastian, got furious that he had fallen down because of the policeman. Then in a fit of rage, he attacked Raghavendra with a log.

The situation remained tense as Sebastian’s friends and some passersby gathered there, and blamed the police for causing the accident. Sensing trouble, the men in uniform contacted the police control room seeking reinforcements. A Hoysala police patrol car soon drove up. Sebastian was arrested and taken to a hospital along with Raghavendra.

Later, following a complaint by Raghavendra, Sebastian was booked for assaulting a government servant, criminal intimidation and drunk-driving. A court has remanded in judicial custody.