Attavar stripping, assault case: Mangaluru court acquits all 19 accused

A Mangaluru court on Saturday acquitted all the 19 accused who were charged with stripping and assaulting a 30-year-old man by tying him to an electric pole in Attavar in the city 10 years ago.

A Mangaluru court on Saturday acquitted all the 19 accused who were charged with stripping and assaulting a 30-year-old man after tying him to an electric pole in Attavar in the city 10 years ago.

The group members, said to be from Right-Wing affiliates, did it after the youth, from a minority community, was reportedly found with his colleague belonging to another community.

The First Additional District and Sessions Judge H.S. Mallikarjuna Swamy acquitted Santhosh Poojary alias Santhosh, Abhiram Alias Abhi, Vijaya Bhandary alias Vijaya, Rajesh Kottary, Rajaneesh, Vivek, Muthuraj, Kiran, Praveen Shetty, Ghanashyam Acharya, Chandrakantha Rao, Dhanush, Bhujanga Shetty, Kishan, Naveen Das, Kiran Kumar, Padmanabha alias Padma, Udhesh Kumar and Yogish.

They were acquitted of offences namely sections 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) , 143 (unlawful assembly), 147, 148 (rioting), 341 (wrongful restraint), 504 (intentional insult with an intent to provoke breach of peace), 323 (hurt), 324 (hurt by dangerous weapons), 355 (assault or criminal force with an intent to dishonour person), 307 (attempt to murder), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 395 (dacoity) of Indian Penal Code.

As per the chargesheet, the victim — Shakir Ali, a sales supervisor at a super store at Attavar — had received a phone call from a female colleague in the same store, on August 24, 2015, evening asking for ₹2,000. He finished his shift at 5.30 p.m. and proceeded to the SBI ATM in Attavar. When he could not withdraw the money from the machine, he connected with another colleague at the store who gave it to him. The victim then took his car to a bus stop near KMC Hospital in Attavar where the woman who had asked for money was waiting.

As he was giving her money, four accused persons arrived on two motorcycles and parked it in front of Shakir’s car. Other accused also joined them almost immediately. After hearing Shakir’s name, they physically rained blows on him. They also hit him with a rod, helmet, and some stones. They tore Shakir’s shirt, pulled down his pants and tied him to an electricity pole. As people started to gather, the accused fled the spot, the chargesheet said.

As many as 19 witnesses, including the victim, were examined before the judge.