Suspected Bajarang Dal activists attack auto driver and his Dalit friend

Vittal, February 6: Two youth belonging to different faiths have been attacked by a group of six suspected activists of Bajarang Dal at Serkala near here in the night of Saturday, February 5.

The victims have been identified as Abdul Khader (22), an auto-rickshaw driver and his Dalit friend Yogish (19), a house driver- both residents of Salethur.

The incident occurred when Yogish was returning to a programme after dropping his three cousin sisters to their house in Khader's rickshaw in Serkala.

Background:

At around 10 pm on Saturday, when both the victims were together in a programme at Salethur, someone hired Khader's auto-rickshaw to Serkala to attend a Yakshagana programme.

Yogish too accompanied Khader to Serkala along with the passenger. Coincidentally, Yogish met his three cousin sisters, who were watching Yakshagana there. When they requested him to drop them to their house, Yogish asked Khader to start his rickshaw.

When Khader and Yogish were returning back to the programme after dropping the girls to their house, a group of miscreants stopped their vehicle and attacked them after abusing them, sources said.

According to Yogish, the reason for miscreants' anger was that he dropped his cousin sisters' to their house by an auto-rickshaw belonging to a Muslim man.

“There were six people and they were looking like goons of Bajaranga Dal. They beat me and Khader brutally. When, I tried to convince them that the girls were my cousin sisters and we dropped them to their house as per their request, they continued to assault us asking me why I hired a rickshaw belonging to a Muslim driver”, said an injured Yogish.

Khader, who identified five of the assailants as Karna, Sujeer, Suresh, Mahabala and Bhaskar, said when he requested the miscreants repeatedly not to assault but they turned more violent and damaged his vehicle also.

Khader has sustained injuries on his head and back. Both the victims have been admitted to Government Hospital in Vittal.

According to the sources, the assailants are planning to cover up the issue by pushing for a compromise formula with the victims.