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Mangaluru, Jun 19: Mohammad Haneef Guddemane, a cattle trader, who was thrashed by the miscreants of Bajrang Dal while legally transporting cattle last weekend, today appeared before media and demanded appropriate action against the assailants.

The attack took place on June 14 at Urwa in the city when he was transporting four buffalos along with all necessary documents. The attack was also captured on a CCTV camp. 

The victim, who addressed a press conference today, said that it was not the first time he is transporting cattle as into animal and husbandry for years. 

“I had bought 10 she-buffaloes on June 13 from Ranennur and obtained certificate from the local government veterinary doctor after which the animals were brought to my village,” said Haneef, who is a resident of Jokatte on the outskirts of the city. 

He said that he was transporting four out of the ten she buffaloes he had bought to the slaughterhouse at Mangaluru on June 14 when a gang of around 15 members which intercepted his vehicles near Urwa police station dragged him out of the vehicle, rained abusive words at him, made blasphemous remarks about his religion, and hit him with a helmet besides kicking him. 

He said that three of the assailants were armed with sabre, iron rod and wooden sticks. 

"They also tied me to the vehicle and assaulted. They also attacked me with their arms but I escaped. Their plan was to kill me. Fortunately, the police reached the spot and the assailants escaped. However, they thoroughly damaged my vehicle and robbed Rs 7,800 I had with me. I got treated at Highland Hospital in the city," he stated.

Expressing shock over the soft corner approach of the police towards the assailants, he said that only six of around 15 attackers were booked by the police. 

“All the accused were let off by the police after registering petty cases. Ironically, the police had not recorded my statement. On the day of attack, they had asked me to sign on a paper. It contained the complaint written by themselves. Hence, on June 17 I visited the Urwa police station and recorded my statement,” he said.

He said that even though he has all the documents pertaining to the cattle that he had purchased, the police had registered false cattle theft charge against him. 

Former city mayor K Ashraf, Hyder, bother of the victim and Shamsuddin, Jokatte gram panchayat vice president were present at the press meet.

Also Read: Mangaluru: Bajrang Dal men thrash cattle trader after waylaying buffalo-laden vehicle

Dubai, May 30: Taking advantage of Vande Bharat Mission, a notorious NRI conman has fled to India through a repatriation flight after duping several businessmen in United Arab Emirates and stealing goods worth nearly six million dirhams.

Yogesh Ashok Yariava, 36, owner of the fraudulent Royal Luck Foodstuff Trading and prime suspect in the audacious scam took a flight to Hyderabad from Abu Dhabi on May 11 with around 170 repatriates.

His mandatory two-week quarantine period would have ended on May 25, but for his 40 odd victims a protracted battle for justice has just begun.

Last Wednesday many of them trooped down to the Indian Consulate office in Dubai in the hope of getting an audience with Consul General Vipul. The following day they went to Bur Dubai police station clutching dud bank cheques.

In a replay of the familiar trading scam, conmen representing Royal Luck Foodstuff approached unsuspecting traders and made bulk purchases against post-dated cheques.

They bought anything they could get their hands on: Facemasks, hand sanisters and medical gloves worth nearly half a million dirhams from Skydent Medical Equipment, Raheeq Laboratories and GSA Star; rice and nuts (Dh393,000) from Al Baraka Foods; tuna, pistachios and saffron (Dh300,725) from Yes Buy General Trading; French fries and mozzarella cheese (Dh229,000) from Mehdu General Trading; frozen Indian beef (Dh207,000) from Al Ahbab General Trading and halwa and tahina (Dh52812) from Emirates Sesame Factory. It’s a long list and it keeps getting longer as more victims come forward.

When their post-dated cheques started bouncing, the traders rushed to Royal Luck’s Opal Tower office in Business Bay. But it was too late. They had shut down and all their 18 staffers had disappeared. Visits to their warehouses also drew a blank.

“Calls made to the company’s sweet-talking purchase managers who visited us days earlier carrying fancy business cards remained unanswered,” said Chandrasekaran Ganesan of Ajman-based Skydent Medical Equipment which supplied protective face masks worth Dh175,875.

Another business owner, Anand Asar said he visited Royal Luck’s office after his cheque of Dh79,552 returned marked insufficient funds. “The security guard at the building told us their staff was last seen on May 17,” said Asar who has since lodged a police complaint.

“I am devastated. I don’t know how I will recover my losses,” said another trader.

Victims reckon the ill-gotten goods have been sold to third parties at dirt cheap prices.

“They have got millions of dirhams worth of goods against worthless pieces of paper. The scammers would rack up huge profits even if they sell our stuff for one tenth their price,” said another trader who pegged his losses at Dh200,000.

The scam comes close on the heels a Dh4 million fruit loot in which 810 tonnes of fruits shipped by Indian exporters to OPC Foodstuff Trading in Deira, Dubai were similarly stolen last month.

Legal adviser Salam Pappinisseri from Sharjah based United Advocates that represents five firms which have collectively lost over Dh550,000 said they are weighing legal action against the prime suspect Yogesh Ashok Variava in both India and the UAE.

“Yogesh, originally from Mumbai, absconded from the UAE with large amounts of money on an emergency evacuation flight. It’s strange that the fraudster got a seat in the flight which was meant to bring stranded Indian citizens who had registered with the Indian embassy and consulate requesting repatriation on urgent grounds,” said Pappinisseri.

Kochi/Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 7: The Managing Director of Muthoot Finance company was injured after miscreants allegedly pelted his car with stones here on Tuesday morning following which one person was reportedly taken into custody.

George Alexander Muthoot, who suffered head injury has been admitted to a private hospital, police said.

A section of employees have been agitating against the Muthoot management over dismissal of 160 staff from the company's 43 branches across the state in December.

The protest is being held under the aegis of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU).

While the Muthoot management alleged that "CITU goons" were behind the attack that occurred at around 9 am in front of IG office here, the union leaders have maintained that they have no role in the incident.

Reacting to the incident, Labour Minister T P Ramakrishnan said he does not think any of the Muthoot employees were behind the attack.

"The employees were protesting peacefully. Violence is not part of their protest. Even now, in today's incident, I don't think any of the Muthoot employees attacked the MD.

However, it was the management of the company which had always provoked them by not implementing the decisions taken at conciliatory meetings," the Minister said.

If the management was prepared to change its stance, all the issues would be resolved, he said.

CITU leader Ananthavattom Anandan told reporters that they do not believe in such type of violent mode of agitation.

An official of the Confederation of Indian Industries Kerala chapter condemned the incident, saying "it is a matter of great concern".

Well known businessman and founder chairman and CEO of V-Guard Industries, Kochouseph Chittilappilly condemned the attack and said it was unfortunate that such incidents still continue in the state.

“Earlier also such incidents have taken palace. It's highly condemnable. The union leaders will now claim that the incident took place without their knowledge. But without the backing of union, such incidents will never happen,” he said.

Kerala-headquartered Muthoot Finance is the largest gold financing company in India.