5 held for assault on shopkeeper in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: The alleged assault on a shop-keeper Mukesh in Cubbonpet of Bengaluru by a group of persons objecting to playing bhajan at the time of azan on Monday evening has taken a political turn with Bharatiya Janata Party leaders staged a protest and the Congress party questioned the rationale of the BJP leaders over the protest. Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police B. Dayanand confirmed the arrest of five accused in the assault case.

The support for shop-keeper Mukesh came from Bharatiya Janata Party leaders led by MPs Tejasvi Surya and P.C. Mohan and MLA Suresh Kumar who staged a protest in front of the shop at Cubbonpet of Bengaluru city demanding impartial investigation into the assault on the shop-keeper over playing bhajan at his shop.

The shop-keeper alleged that on Monday at around 6.25 a group came to him and questioned “Why he was playing bhajan when Azan was going on nearby?” and an agreement ensued between the shop-keeper and the group after which the shop-keeper alleged that he was beaten-up by the group since he did not heed to their threat to stop playing bhajan at his shop.

In his complaint to the Ulsoor Gate police, Mukesh named Suleman, Rohit Shahnawaz, Danish and Tarun as accused persons involved in the attack on him. In his complaint, Mukesh alleged that started to bleed from the assault on him.

Over the assault incident, Tejasvi Surya demanded an impartial investigation into it and alleged that law and order in the State had deteriorated after the Congress party came to power in Karnataka.

Reacting to the protest by BJP leaders, Congress leader and Minister for Health Dinesh Gundu Rao stated that for the BJP leaders to hit the streets either it has to be time of elections or some communal disturbances.

Rao questioned the BJP leaders “Where were you when State meted out injustice in tax devolution from the Central Government” and his other query to BJP leaders was “Wasn’t your blood boiled when State got raw deal in sharing River waters?”