Thugs on the prowl

Inebriated youths strut around using Maha Shivaratri as a reason to order shops to down shutters; attack residents with tube lights, sticks

On the auspicious day of Maha Shivaratri, a gang of college and high school dropouts attacked stores and bystanders last night, injuring three people in the process. The thugs insisted that storeowners shut shop on account of Shivaratri in Basaveshwara Nagar at about 9.45 pm. The hooligans were inebriated and used tube lights and sticks in the attack.


Belittled: Of the 10 drunken hooligans, four were apprehended by police
and were strip searched in Basaveshwara Nagar police station.u00a0
Puttaswamy Acharya, a tailor, was struck on the hand with a tube light
outside his shop in Basaveshwara Nagar. Pic/Bindiya Carmeline Thomas

Puttaswamy Acharya (48), a tailor, was struck on the hand with a tube light just outside his shop, he said, "I've had my shop in the same area for 28 years, but for the last few years young men have been coming on this day ordering us to shut down."

He added, "I will not file a complaint since I don't think it will help." Anil Kumar, tried to fend off the thugs by pushing them away. He however, was overpowered and beaten up. He said, "I was walking on the street when they saw and came towards me menacingly. I tired to fight them, but I was outnumbered."

Of the 10 drunken hooligans, four were apprehended by police and were strip searched in Basaveshwara Nagar police station, while the others remain at large. A senior police official from Basaveshwara Nagar police station, said, "Only four have been identified and the others are absconding. This was just a case of mob attack."