Residents' meet turns violent, two held

A residents’ association meeting at the SLS Serenity Apartment complex at Kadubeesanahalli, off Marathalli Ring Road, turned ugly after two groups resorted to name-calling and physical assault. 

The incident even resulted in one group summoning armed goons to thrash residents in the complex, said the police. The HAL Police have arrested two men, Venugopal Reddy, 50, and his nephew Rama Reddy, 26, on the charge of causing grievous injuries.

A resident told Deccan Herald that the problem began when apartment residents called a meeting with The Reddys over renting out flats to bachelors. “The Reddys own 35 of 100 flats in the complex and had illegally rented them out as paying guest (PG) accommodations to bachelors, which was opposed by many residents,” he said.

On Sunday, the association, on request of the Reddys, called an all-member meeting to discuss the issue. This meeting began at 11 am, but soon turned violent. “Everything went out of hand when we began to discuss the PG issue,” a resident said. Venugopal hurled abuses at other members, raising tempers on both sides and giving rise to a fist-fight, he added.

“Venugopal next called his goons who used sticks and other weapons to assault all opposers, even women,” the resident said. Several residents called the police, who rushed to the complex and resorted to mild caning to bring the situation under control.