Africans thrash student with machete over road rage

Three Africans attacked a 21-year-old biker with a machete when the latter confronted them for ramming his bike and speeding away.

In his complaint, HRBR Layout resident Naresh M said he was riding home on his scooter at 8 pm Sunday when a car hit his bike from behind at 6th B Main in HRBR Layout and zoomed away.

Naresh, a student, chased the car and intercepted it before Konkan Bhavan in Chelekere. He raised some questions over the Africans' reckless driving and, in the heat of the argument, took the keys and a mobile phone from the car.

The Africans assaulted him and took away Naresh’s scooter when he briefly fled the scene. Naresh informed his friends about the incident. The Africans returned in five minutes, caught Naresh and one of them hit him with a machete on the neck and head, leaving Naresh profusely bleeding from his ear and head.

On reaching the scene, Naresh’s friends Naga, Deepak and Pashupathi tried cornering the Africans, but they escaped. The trio rushed Naresh to a private hospital, where he is receiving treatment.

An investigating official said the Africans hastily fled the scene on noticing the locals gathering with Naresh’s friends, leaving behind the car and the scooter. They were afraid of getting thrashed by the mob.

“We’ve taken up a case against the foreign nationals,” the official said. “We’ve got clues on their whereabouts and will arrest them at the earliest.”

Quoting information available with the police, another official said the three Africans were in a hurry to attend a prayer at a church and got into an argument when they hit Naresh’s scooter. “But attacking (someone) with a machete is scary (thing). We’ll ask them where they got the weapon from,” said the official.