Bengaluru: For Rs 10, family beaten up at mall parking lot

Bengaluru: A Sunday evening movie plan proved nightmarish for 60-year-old V. Ramesh and his family, for they found that Akshay Kumar’s stunts onscreen were nothing compared to the action that unfolded in the parking lot!

The family of Mr Ramesh, an employee of Deccan Chronicle, was mobbed and attacked by the security supervisor of Gopalan Cinemas, Grand Mall just after midnight on Sunday over a parking fee row.

A resident of Ramamurthy Nagar, Mr Ramesh, his 55-year-old wife Rama, a bank employee, and their son, Akash, had gone to Gopalan Cinemas in Nagavarapalya, Old Madras Road on Sunday night for a 9.50 pm show.

A mob of nearly 15, including security guards and employees of the mall, allegedly assaulted Mr Ramesh and his son Akash. The entire act was caught on the CCTV camera on the premises. To make matters worse, when Mr Ramesh approached the Byappanahalli police to register a complaint, he was asked to drop the case. Only after Deccan Chronicle intervened, did the police constable on duty register the FIR.

After the movie, Mr Ramesh took his car out of the parking lot around 12.30 am and arrived at the exit gate to pay for the parking fee.

“As it was mentioned in the receipt that charges was Rs 30 for two hours, I had already kept aside the change. When I gave them the parking fee as mentioned in the receipt, the man who was collecting the fee asked for Rs 10 more. When I questioned him, he said, ‘You have to pay extra as you exceeded the parking time’, and I agreed,” Mr Ramesh said.

“As none of us had Rs 10 change, I gave him a Rs 500 note. But he refused to take the currency note and demanded the change. By then, cars had started piling up behind us. I told the fee collector to either give change for Rs 500 or let go of the Rs 10,” he said.

But all hell broke loose when Mr Ramesh told the security personnel that he will move his car a little ahead to allow other cars to exit. “I told the security guard that my wife worked in a bank across the street and she would get money from the ATM. One of the security guards came running towards my car and snatched my car keys away. I got down from the car and was reasoning with them, when their supervisor started accusing me of not paying the parking fee. An argument broke out and the supervisor punched me in my face,” Mr Ramesh said.

By then 15 security men surrounded his car and threatened Ramesh. When Ramesh’s son, Akash, 20, came to his father’s rescue, he was also assaulted by the men. As the fight was raging, two cops on a Cheetah patrolling vehicle approached Mr Ramesh.

“When I told them about the incident, they told me not to pursue the case as my wife works right across the street and the security guards could harass her. But, I decided to go ahead with the complaint and went to Byappanahalli police station. I narrated the ordeal to the policeman on duty, but he refused to take the complaint. Only after the intervention of my colleagues, the policeman registered the FIR only at 1.25 am,” Mr Ramesh said.