TRS party worker sets youth’s bike on fire allegedly for not wishing him ‘namaste’

The party worker, identified as K Arun Kumar, was reportedly drunk at the time and in possession of a knife.

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A 20-year-old man was allegedly manhandled and his two-wheeler set ablaze by a local Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party worker at Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad on Saturday night. The party worker, identified as 35-year-old K Arun Kumar, set the youth’s bike on fire for allegedly not paying him “respect”, said police who have since arrested him.

Umakanth, who operates a pan shop, in his complaint to the police said that he was returning home when he was stopped by Arun Kumar, a local TRS party worker in the Rehmat Nagar locality of Jubilee Hills. Arun picked up an argument with Umakanth over not wishing him with a “namaste”.

"They beat me, the TRS party worker Arun took a knife out and said why I am not giving him izzat(respect). I am a poor man and they burnt down my two-wheeler, just for not saying namaste they burnt my bike. About 10 people came, they were TRS supporters,” Umakanth is seen saying in a video uploaded by a Twitter user.

Police take action on Trs leaders pic.twitter.com/znfqewdwQ2 — Chowkidar Vikram Singh (@T_Vikram_Singh) May 4, 2019

Arun was reportedly drunk at the time and in possession of a knife. “He and his associates threatened the man and it resulted in a scuffle, they then set the bike on fire. We arrested him that night itself, we are yet to take others into custody,” said K Balakrishna Reddy, inspector, Jubilee Hills police station.

A video of an argument between the TRS party worker’s supporters and the police is also doing the rounds on social media. In the video, the TRS supporters are seen to be aggressive and hurling abuses at the police who were trying to diffuse the situation.

Police have booked Arun Kumar under section 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage), section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and section 506 (criminal intimidation).