Dispute over religious chants leads to assault, four arrested

Bengaluru: Three people were allegedly assaulted by individuals from a different community on Wednesday for raising ‘Jai Shree Ram’ slogans. The alleged incident occurred at Chikkabettahalli near Vidyaranyapura on Rama Navami. 

Senior police officers confirmed to DH late on Wednesday that four people were arrested. Two were identified as Farman and Sameer. “Two other arrested are saying they are minors. We are verifying that. All four are from MS Palya,” an officer said. 

As per the FIR seen by DH, at around 3.20 pm, Pavan Kumar, Binayak, and Rahul — all in their early 20s — were travelling in their Toyota Glanza on Chikkabettahalli Road in northwestern Bengaluru. 

The trio alleged that two people, now identified as Farman and Sameer, rode up on a TVS Apache motorcycle after seeing a Lord Ram flag tied to the car. The duo allegedly abused the three and forced them to shout “Allahu Akbar,” according to the FIR. 

Police sources said that Farman questioned the victims over the slogan.

“Farman tried to snatch the flag held by one of the victims, when two other victims tried to chase him to a nearby lane, while Sameer rode away. The two victims return to the car, and after about a minute, Sameer and Farman come back to the car. Farman carried a stick. Right then, the third and the fourth suspects approach the car. The suspects then assaulted the two victims. They leave the spot shortly. Police subsequently reached the spot and brought the victims to the station. They moved the injured to a hospital and registered the case,” an official said.

Rahul suffered a head injury, while Binayak injured his nose bone. 

An officer said that so far, the involvement of only four suspects was confirmed. “We are still checking surrounding CCTV footage to confirm if a fifth person is involved,” the officer said.

A video of the incident went viral on social media. “Jai Shree Ram, no. Only Allahu Akbar,” a person outside the car was heard saying in the video. A case was registered by the Vidyaranyapura police.