Four held for assaulting two bakery owners in B’luru: Police

Four people were arrested on Saturday for allegedly assaulting two bakery owners near Kundalahalli Gate under the HAL police station limits, police said on Sunday.

The incident took place on Thursdaybut came to the fore on Friday after a video of the clash was shared on social media platforms, said police. HT has seen the video.

The accused have been identified as Manjunath, owner of a tea stall and his associates, Karthik (20), a delivery executive, Karthik (23) who is a hotel manager, and Salman (20) a factory worker in Marathahalli.

Accused Manjunath was worried that the bakery was affecting his business by making more profits, said a police official. The tea stall owner got some people to threaten the bakery staff, said the police.

“The bakery and the tea stall are situated in a close proximity to each other. The tea stall owner was worried about the bakery making more profits than him. So, he wanted to scare him. He had called some of the people who used to come to his stall, to threaten the bakery staff,” said Whitefield deputy commissioner of police S Girish.

In the video of the incident, which was widely shared on social media, at least eight men can be seen at the bakery, assaulting the shopkeeper. The men were seen assaulting the shopkeeper with trays and a helmet and, vandalising the bakery, police said.

The accused visited the shop as customers and allegedly ordered tea and cigarettes, said police. Later, they picked a fight over the payment of the bill, the police said. Bakery owner Naveen Kumar Shetty also alleged that the accused had robbed his gold chain, a mobile phone, and cash from the bakery. Shetty is also the complainant.

Following the incident, several members of the bakery owners’ association gathered before the HAL police station on HAL police station on Friday demanding action against the miscreants.

So far, four people have been arrested based on the CCTV footage of the incident, said the police. A case has been registered under charges of robbery and assault of the Indian Penal Code, said police.

“A video on Twitter shows eight people barging into a bakery and assaulting the shopkeeper. Four of these have already been arrested on charges of assault and robbery. The investigation is still underway for the rest,” the official Twitter handle of Bengaluru police read.