Yathiraju By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: Shanthinagar Congress MLA NA Haris's son Mohammed Haris Nalpad first slapped the victim L Vidwat at Farzi Cafe bar and restaurant in UB city, besides provoking his aides with the sole intention of murdering him. This has been disclosed in the chargesheet filed by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police before the trial court.

It confirmed that the clash erupted when Mohammed Haris Nalpad's leg touched Vidwat's right leg which was covered with plaster of paris (PoP) owing to a fracture while he was entering the cafe on second floor of the UB city in Cubbon Park police station limits at about 10.30 pm on February 17, 2018. Then Nalpad abused Vidwat: "I am son of local MLA NA Haris. You are not even equal to my shoe. You say sorry and kiss my feet, bloody a#@*&%#..." When Vidwat refused to do so, Nalpad commanded his aides to hit Vidwat, saying "Ee b*&#^%$#@&ge ondu gathi kanisi, naanu yaaru antha thorisu," besides slapping him.

Then his aides assaulted Vidwat on the chest, legs, arms and back with glass bottles, ice bucket and other items. They also hit him with fists, and kicked him after he fell down.

"Then, Nalpad said "I will show you whom I am, if you don't hold my leg and kiss my feet and if you don't say sorry, then I will kill you here only" and slapped Vidwat again," the chargesheet stated.

It also stated that the bouncers of the cafe and Vidwat's friends brought him to the first floor through an escalator to save them from the accused.

Nafi Ahmed, accused number 8 in the case, and others did not let Vidwat who was trying to save himself, go away from them and brought him back inside the cafe and allegedly thrashed him again. Then the bouncers and Vidwat's friends admitted him to nearby Mallya Hospital.

There, too, the accused rushed to the casualty ward and tried to assault Vidwat and threatened his brother who came to his rescue. Hearing the hospital staff screaming, they left the place.

In the chargesheet running into more than 300 pages, statements of as many as 23 witnesses, including the complainant Praveen Venkatachalaiah were recorded.

The accused were booked under sections 143, 144, 147, 148, 341, 323, 326, 504, 506 (b), 307 read with 149 of the IPC.

Accused at large, Nalpad moves trial court for bail

The other accused, including Krishna of Jayanagar and Javar and others are still at large. Police have failed to nab them even 89 days after the incident.

The accused who are in judicial custody are Nalpad, Arun Babu, G Manjunath, Mohammed Afras Ashraf, M Balakrishna, Abhishek Murali, Nafi Ahmed. Meanwhile on Thursday, the high court granted conditional bail to Abhishek Murali. Nalpad is said to have moved trial court for bail on Thursday.

EYE WITNESSES SPEAK

Abhishek Gowda, son of actor-turned politician MH Ambarish

Abhishek Gowda, son of actor-turned politician MH Ambarish is also one of the eye witness to the incident. In his statement to CCB, he said: "I was there with Bhyrav Kuttaiah at 9.30 to 9.45 in cafe for dinner. Rithin, son of MP PC Mohan, was also there. I knew Nalpad for about 8-9 years but I didn't know the victim Vidwat till I heard his name in the morning TV news. At 10.30 pm, Nalpad came with 8-10 persons and hugged me, besides inquiring about my well-being, before heading towards the bar counter. After 5-10 minutes, there was some quarrel and then I moved towards that. After seeing a group assaulting Vidwat, I told Nalpad: "What happened? Don't quarrel. In reply, Nalpad came and whispered in my ear 'this is not related to you/this is none of your business. Don't interfere. Then I was just a spectator. The group was demanding Vidwat to apologise by touching his (Nalpad's) feet and simultaneously few of them hitting him from the back. Nalpad also slapped Vidwat 2-3 times."Abhishek also identified the accused Nalpad, Arun Babu, Manjunatha, Balakrishna, Abhishek Murali and Nafi Mohammed.

Guru Raj Kumar, son of actor and producer Raghavendra Raj Kumar

Another eye witness, Guru Raj Kumar, son of actor and producer Raghavendra Raj Kumar, in his statement, said: "I and Vidwat studied in the same school up to 10th standard. His family is known to me. Earlier, I met Nalpad once. I was heading towards Farzi Cafe to see Vidwat on that night and when I reached the Chinnaswamy stadium, Praveen called me over phone and asked to come urgently to the cafe, saying that Vidwat was being assaulted by Nalpad and his group. When I reached the cafe, Vidwat was being taken to the basement from where he was shifted to Mallya hospital at 11 to 11.10 pm. Then he was taken immediately to the emergency ward. Nalpad and his group rushed to the hospital and barged into the emergency ward. Then Sathwik (Vidwat's brother) was shouting 'who assaulted Vidwat?'. Then Nalpad told him: "I only assaulted him, I will even hit you. Ask (them) to ready a bed next to Vidwat if you want, so that you can sleep there..".Then one Anand told Nalpad 'he is son of Raghavendra Rajkumar, Puneeth Rajkumar's brother son'. Then, Nalpad sat besides me and said: 'Go and ask Puneeth who am I'." Gururaj Kumar also identified the accused Nalpad, Arun Babu, Manjunath and Balakrishna.