Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, February 22

Tejeswar Maddikera, a resident of Hyderabad who is travelling across India with his German shepherd on a bicycle, was thrashed at McLeodganj.

In a Facebook post, Tejeswar has alleged that he was attacked and mercilessly beaten up by four persons, who claimed themselves to be policemen.

SP Santosh Patial said he had inquired into the incident and some civilians, not policemen, thrashed Tejeswar. They were trying to identify the accused and action would be taken against them. He, however, added that till the filing of this report, no complaint had been filed in the matter.

Tejeswar said the incident had made him lose faith in humanity. He said the incident occurred on February 19. “As part of my cycling journey, I was planning to end my stay at Dharamkot (Dharamsala ) and was with a couple of people. After parking bicycle near the Vipasana meditation centre, Tejeswar and his friends decided to go downhill to have dinner.

Tejeswar said he walked up the hill with his dog to get the cycle. But to his surprise, the main gate to the area was locked. A few metres away, 4 men, who claimed themselves to be policemen, were sitting near the taxi stand, drinking alcohol.

He alleged that he went there and tried to explain his position and asked for help. However, they got infuriated and started beating him. They held his dog by its collar and also thrashed her. He was beaten up. He pushed them to grab his dog.

“I managed to run into the woods and reached a nearby road where I could stop a cab and a scooter. I urged them to help me while the dog was screaming in pain. The man on the scooter asked me to take me to the place where the policemen were,” he said.

“As I reached there, the man also joined the so-called policemen and started thrashing me,” the victim said.

He further said the cab driver and the monk were terrified. A little later, the cab driver mustered courage and pleaded them to let him go. He signalled him to escape. Finding the opportunity, he ran into the jungle and reached the place where he had stayed. His friends took him to the hotel.

He said it was only after two days that he could share his plight on the social media.