Udupi, Dec 30: A group of miscreants, suspected to be activists of a saffron group, waylaid a vehicle and thrashed two persons at Thombattu village in Kundapur taluk of Udupi district for transporting cows.
The vigilantism occurred on Thursday. The injured Manjunath and Samiullah have been admitted to a hospital for treatment.
According to the jurisdictional Amasebail police, Manjunath, Jagadish, Samiulla, Nisar, and Mansoor, were illegally transporting 12 cows in a vehicle near Thombattu around 3.30 a.m.
A group of 10 miscreants stopped their vehicle and assaulted them saying they were stealing the cows. In the melee, Nisar, Mansoor, and Jagadish managed to escape. Meanwhile the police, learning about the incident, rushed to the spot. Manjunath and Samiullah, who were injured, were taken to hospital.
Samiullah’s complaint
Meanwhile, Samiulla, in his separate complaint to the police, said he and Nisar had started from Karkunje village around 2 a.m. on December 28 to collect vegetables. Since the vegetables were not available, they left for Siddapur, where Mansoor joined them. When they reached Thombattu Circle, Manjunath, who was their acquaintance, told them to follow his bike. He took them to a cattle shed, which had 12 cows and told them to transport the animals. They followed his direction and that’s when they were stopped and assaulted.
While one case has been registered by the police, the other case has been registered on the complaint given by Samiullah, the police said.
The police arrested three persons — Uday, Chandra, and Srikanth for their involvement in the assault on Friday, and they are out on bail. The cows have been shifted to the cow shelter at Neelavar village.
Manjunath’s claim
Manjunath, who has a fracture and is being treated at the District Government Hospital, claimed that he was beaten up by activists of the Bajrang Dal. “There was a gap of about one kilometre between my motorcycle and the vehicle transporting the cows. I am in no way connected with the illegal transportation of cows or the incident. But the Bajrang Dal activists have beaten me up badly,” Mr. Manjunath said.
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