They attacked us with beer bottles and threatened to kill us: Students
Kochi: Two students who travelled by a luxury bus proceeding to Bangalore from Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday night are yet to recover from the nightmare they underwent at Vytilla here early on Sunday.
The two BTech students studying at Erode, along with another passenger hailing from Thrissur, were ousted from the bus- 'Suresh Kallada Travels' --by the crew at Vyttila after the passengers questioned the busmen for the delay in arranging an alternative bus when the first one broke down at Haripad on Saturday night. The trio were attacked by goons when the alternative bus reached Vyttila around 4.20 a.m. on Sunday.
The students, C.M. Sachin and Muhammed Ashkar, were returning from Haripad after visiting a friend and were to appear for university exam on April 26. They said that goons waiting outside chased them and attacked them with beer bottles and even threatened to kill them.
A video was posted by another co-passenger showing the crew assaulting them and forcibly ousting them from the bus. However, the duo underwent more attacks thereafter.
"We're beaten up and forcibly taken outside the bus around 4.20 a.m. A gang of over 10 persons suddenly pounced upon us and started beating us with beer bottles. The other passenger, Ajay Ghosh from Thrissur, was lying unconscious on the road and all our belongings were strewn all over," Sachin told DC over phone from a hospital in Coimbatore where they are undergoing treatment.The youths took to their heels fearing for their lives and ran to opposite sides. The gang too split into two and followed them on bikes. The two managed to ring up the police control room and sought help.
"I was hiding near an ATM when the police jeep arrived. To my surprise, the police personnel asked me to wait there and directed me to ring up my friend and ask him to come there. The jeep left and in another two minutes the gang reached there and took me into their custody," said Ashkar.
"They threatened to kill me and attempted to take me to their garage. The cops re-appeared again but the gang cooked up a story that we had robbed valuables inside the bus. The cops were then shouting at me. With great difficulty, I managed to convince the police to trace my missing friend. He too was caught by the gang and the cops released him from their custody," he added.
The police then hired an auto and asked the three victims to go to Tripunithura government hospital and give their statements at Maradu police station later. However, the trio asked the driver to take another route as they felt the gang was still chasing them.
"We reached Edapally and from there took a Uber cab to reach Aluva KSRTC bus stand. From there, we reached Thrissur and boarded a train to Erode as we felt we'll be trapped," said Sachin.
"We lost our hall ticket along with laptop and other valuables. The cops contacted us and said they would come here to take the statements from us," he said.
The two are receiving treatment at a private hospital in Coimbatore.
The cops later arrested two persons based on the statement given by Ajay Ghosh, who is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Kochi.
