The families of the two men who were shot at by the police in Mahalakshmi Layout on Tuesday night have claimed that the suspects were fired at after being taken into custody.

Girish Kumar, a friend of Ravi — the prime suspect — disputes the police account of the events and the timeline mentioned in the two FIRs.

As per the FIRs, the bar shootout occurred around 10.45 pm. But Kumar showed to Deccan Herald the call data record (CDR), revealing he had called up Ravi at 11.17 pm. Ravi asked him to come to the bar. Kumar claimed there was no disturbance at the bar even then.

Prashanth said that his cousin Ravi called him up around 3 am, saying he had a fight with the bar staff. He was beaten up by 15 people and “forced” to fire in the air. According to Prashanth, the bullet might have accidentally hit an employee of the bar.

He also claimed that Ravi and another suspect Anjan Kumar were picked up by the police from the bar immediately after the brawl. “Ravi told me that he and Kumar were thrashed at the police station before being taken to an isolated place where they were shot at,” Prashanth said.

Ravi’s wife Pratima Bai said that he didn’t respond to her repeated calls. The family was about to file a missing complaint when Ravi called up Prashanth, Bai said. Anjan Kumar’s wife, Manuja, narrated a similar story.

Both families were agitated when the police didn’t allow them to meet the suspects. They have not filed any official complaint against the “fake” shootout.

S N Siddaramappa, DCP (North), maintained that the two inspectors had shot at the suspects “in self-defence”. The inspectors took care to fire at them only in the limbs, the officer added. Kamal Pant, Additional Commissioner (Law and Order), said that the Commissioner would decide on a probe if the suspects’ families filed a complaint.