Bengaluru: Two men who assaulted cabbie arrested, freed

BENGALURU: The two men, who had assaulted a cab driver for speaking in Kannada, were arrested and released on bail by the Seshadripuram police on Monday.

The cab driver, Jagdish, had lodged a complaint at the Seshadripuram police station on Saturday night, alleging that two customers, one of whom he had identified as Param, assaulted him when he did not speak to them in Hindi.

The police traced Param with the mobile number he had used to book the cab, while his friend Auchitya Thakur, who joined Param midway and allegedly assaulted Jagadish, was also arrested on the information provided by Param.

The incident allegedly took place on Saturday night when Param booked Jagdish’s cab. Jagadish stated in the complaint that Param booked the cab from Hebbal Junction to Windsor Manor. 

On the way, Param asked Jagdish to drive in another direction, but the cab driver reused. When Jagdish replied to Param in Kannada, he allegedly got angry, called up his friend Auchitya and assaulted Jagadish.

The police said that Param is from Himachal Pradesh and Auchitya is from Delhi. Both work as security guards at an apartment in Guttahalli. As the case was a bailable offence, they were released on bail, the police said. 

The police said that Jagdish and Param first had a verbal fight when the cabbie was asked to change the direction. As there was a language gap, the scuffle turned into a minor fight. Later, Param called Auchitya and assaulted Jagadish.