Three arrested for assaulting professor who asked them not to throw garbage: Police

Three people have been arrested for allegedly assaulting a professor who confronted them about throwing garbage from an auto-rickshaw, police said.

Kumara Swamy Layout police inspector N Jagadish said that the accused were sitting in their auto-rickshaw and carelessly throwing trash, including glass bottles, onto the road on April 21 in the JHBICS Layout area of Kumaraswamy Layout.

“Professor Aravindo Gupta, a faculty member at Dayananda Sagar College, saw the three accused littering the road. Concerned about the potential dangers to other vehicles skidding on the debris, he politely informed the accused, ‘Please don’t throw garbage like this; it can cause accidents’,” he said. The accused were identified as Bhanu Prasad (26), Sharath (23), and Amrit Kumar (24).

“Offended by his remark, the three exited the auto-rickshaw and launched a physical attack on him. Gupta described the incident as both alarming and disheartening, emphasising that he was assaulted merely for questioning their irresponsible behaviour. In a video statement, he said: ’Years ago, Bengaluru was referred to as a safe city. But today, the reputation of Bengaluru is being tarnished. We cannot tolerate such hooliganism’,” he further said.

The officer further said that the professor filed a complaint after the incident at the Kumaraswamy Layout police station.

“On the basis of his complaint, we have registered a case on April 22 itself. Soon after registering the FIR the accused went absconding but we managed to arrest them on Saturday. All accused booked under BNS sections criminal intimidation,” he said.

Following the assault, Professor Gupta lodged a complaint at the Kumaraswamy Layout police station, providing details of the incident. The police took swift action, reviewing CCTV footage from the vicinity of the incident to identify the attackers. With the evidence gathered, they were able to apprehend the suspects.