Bengaluru: Boy beaten up in mall, four guards booked

Bengaluru: Malleswaram police have registered a case against four security staffers of Mantri Mall, after a 15-year-old high school student, who went to play games in the mall, accused them of wrongful detention and assault. 

According to the police, the incident took place on Monday evening. The complainant, a resident of Ramachandrapura in Srirampura, had gone to play video games in the Mall located on Sampige road. 

He returned home injured and informed his parents about the assault by security guards. They took him to the hospital and later filed a complaint with Malleswaram police.

Police said the boy had stated in his complaint that he had gone to the second floor of the mall to charge his mobile phone. 

At the charging point there were mobile phones, belonging to others, that were plugged for charging. While Vijay was looking for an empty socket to charge his phone, four security guards who were in the vicinity, caught him and accused him of phone theft.

When he tried to explain, the guards bundled him into the cellar of the second floor and assaulted him. While the victim cried for help, they continued to beat him and later he was let off.

Malleswaram police have taken up a case against the security guards charging them under Section 341 (wrongful restraint) and Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of IPC and are investigating.

The police have asked the mall management to provide photographs of the security staff and ask the victim to identify them. One of the accused has been identified and efforts are on to track down three others, said a senior police officer.  

The police have also sought the CCTV footage to identify the other culprits.