Mangaluru, Aug 26: "Luring me close to KMC Hospital in Attavar under the pretext of being in need of money and getting assaulted by members of a saffron outfit was a pre-planned act," alleged Shakir who was brutally assaulted by a group of alleged Bajrang Dal activists in the city earlier this week.
Speaking to a Coastaldigest.com at private hospital, where he is slowly recuperating, the 28-year-old Muslim youth brushed aside all the fresh allegations made by the woman, who changed her statements thrice after incident. He also lamented that not a single person came forward to help him even though he was stripped, tied to an electric pole and assaulted for one-and-a-half hours in a crowded market area.
Shakir said that he had been employed from the past four years as a manager in a supermarket in Attavar. "When I was leaving for my residence in Kulur from the supermarket on Monday evening, a female employee made a phone call and implored me to lend her a sum of Rs 2,000 on the same day. Hence, I immediately left for KMC Hospital in Attavar as per her suggested place to hand her the amount in cash.”
“Just as soon as I arrived in front of the hospital, a total of eight persons reached the spot in four two-wheelers, forcefully opened the door of my vehicle and demanded to know my name. Even as I replied my name, they suddenly yanked me from the car and dragged me out. They abused me against my religion and began hitting me. Thereafter, they dragged me to an electric pole nearby, stripped me down to my underwear and tied me to the pole. They also hit me on the head with a rod they had brought with them and began to assault me with their hands. After this, they began hitting me at random with stones," he informed.
Recounting his ordeal, Shakir said that the culprits tied him at around 5.20 p.m. and took away his mobile, a costly wristwatch and Rs 2,000 in cash. "They brutally assaulted me till about 6.45 p.m. while chanting slogans of 'Jai Shri Ram'. The several people who gathered to watch me being assaulted stood as mute spectators without helping me. I had been tied until the Pandeshwar police inspector arrived at around 6.45 p.m.," he said.
Shakir revealed that he was the only person from the Muslim community employed as a manager in the supermarket and this fact did not go well with some members affiliated to the Sangh Parivar.
"A few such persons had also questioned me and abused me previously in the same regard. This is the reason why the culprits brutally assaulted me after luring me to a designated place through a female colleague. This aside, the elder sibling of the same female colleague is a leader of a women's wing of a saffron outfit affiliated to the Sangh Parivar," he said.
The 21-year-old female colleague of the victim was also humiliated in the public by the miscreants when she requested them not to assault Shakir. However, gradually the girl changed her statement and filed a complaint against the victim accusing him of trying outrage her modesty. Police have arrested over a dozen accused in connection with the incident.
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