here

Eight heavily drunk defence personnel late Friday night assaulted customers in a Colaba bar, roughed up the staff, and thrashed two passersby who had stopped to find out what all the commotion was about.While five of the eight managed to escape before the Colaba police arrived at the scene, the rest were booked for assault and indecent behaviour. The cops identified two of them as Vikramjit Singh, and Sumit Yadav, both attached to INS Shikra in Mumbai, and the third as Amit Yadav, an IAF personnel from Bhuj in Gujarat.Mumbai Mirror is in possession of a video shot on a mobile phone which shows the eight kicking, punching, and lashing with belts at Sai Rane, a choreographer, and his friend Parth Kshirsagar, who were passing by on a bike and had stopped on spotting a crowd.Vrindavan, the Colaba bar where it all started, has a video that shows the group assaulting and heckling customers when asked to lower their voices. They are also seen roughing Eye-witnesses said the group first got into fisticuffs among themselves after being evicted from the restaurant and turned its ire to Rane and his friend when they tried to intervene.Rane was taken a nearby hospital by the cops. He was discharged after first-aid. The accused when fine Rs 1200 each and let off with a warning. While through the day the naval establishment denied that any of the eight seen brawling in the video were their men, Chief Defence Spokesman Rahul Sinha late on Saturday evening confirmed that two of those booked by the Colaba police - Amit Yadav and Sumit Yadav -- were defence personnel, attached to the Navy and the Air Force respectively. The third, Vikramjit Singh, he said, is a merchant navy sailor.Commander Sinha, however, said that three men were “beaten up and were not beating people up.” He, however, said he had not yet seen the footage from the cameras inside the bar.Senior Inspector Vinay Gadgil of the Colaba police said that his officers had confirmed the identities of the two navy sailors and one airman. “Two identified themselves as sailors attached to INS Shikra and the third said was with the Air Force in Bhuj,” he said. Bar owner Shetty said he is willingly to share the restaurant’s video footage with the police and the defence authorities.Sinha said, “The video recording at the bar has been checked by our staff.” He also said that they have spoken to the owner and he has denied claims of a brawl or an assault inside the bar. Sinha said that as per the owner there was only a verbal exchange with another group. Sinha added, “The PSI is currently being questioned by the senior police inspector about why the person fighting in the video was let off without being fined.”