Bengaluru road rage case: IAF commander-biker clash snowballs into language row, pro-Kannadiga groups step in
A road rage incident involving Indian Air Force's wing commander and a biker in Bengaluru on Monday morning has spiralled into a language row and the Byappanahalli police, who arrested the biker after noticing the video posted by Wing Commander Shiladitya Bose on social media, have filed two separate FIRs in the case.
On Monday, an altercation broke out between Bose, a resident of DRDO township and the biker Vikas Kumar, a private company employee, when Bose's wife Madhumita was driving him to the airport. In a video posted by Bose, the officer claimed that the biker had waylaid their car and hit him with a key and later with a stone. And he had retaliated by throwing his bike.
The Bengaluru police arrested the biker following a complaint by Madhumita who stated the biker had assaulted her husband and also allegedly a Kannada-speaking mob had thrashed them.
A few hours later, the police, who were interrogating Vikas, a resident of Tavarekere also found CCTV footages and videos of the scuffle which exposed the claims of the couple as false. The footages revealed that the officer had punched the biker in rage and kicked him after he fell to the ground and had thrown his bike key too. Contrary to Madhumita's claims, the locals were trying to separate the two men indulging in the scuffle.
After the CCTV footages went viral, the netizens slammed the officer for trying to set a "false narrative" and gain public sympathy, when he clearly was the "aggressor".
Home Minister G. Parameshwara confirmed that Vikas, who has been arrested, had also filed a counter-complaint and said, "The wing commander hails from West Bengal. He has gone missing after the incident. The police are investigating the case," said the home minister.
Pro-Kannada activists staged protest outside the Byappanahalli police station on Monday night demanding justice for Vikas.
Praveen Shetty, president of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, said, "Kannadigas have always respected the men in uniform. But his behaviour is unbecoming of an officer, who also tried to tarnish the image of Bengaluru and the Kannadigas. He is a blot on the armed forces. This is another instance of outsiders' atrocities on the Kannadigas. The officer has assaulted the boy and threw his phone. This is rowdy behaviour. If not for the CCTV footages, Vikas would have been branded as a rowdy. We demand the home minister to initiate strict action against the wing commander and urge the Chief Minister to form a task force to curb atrocities of outsiders on the Kannadigas in the city."
India