Karnataka: Man assaulted for travelling with woman of different religion in Mangaluru

MANGALURU: A 23-year-old man was allegedly assaulted for travelling on a bus with a woman from another religion in Mangaluru — the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka.
Mangaluru Police has detained around eight people involved in the crime.
Those detained are suspected to belong to a saffron fringe outfit.
The incident was reported on Thursday at around 9.30pm when the man and the woman — belonging to different religions — were travelling from Mangaluru city to Bengaluru in a private bus.
They boarded the private bus near the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation bus stand.
When the bus reached Pumpwell, a group of people who arrived in a car, stopped the bus saying that they knew the woman, city police commissioner N Shashi Kumar told reporters on Friday.
As soon as the bus stopped, the woman first alighted.
She told the police that the man was her classmate and she was travelling to Bengaluru to explore jobs in the field of digital marketing for which she sought the help of her friend who was familiar with Bengaluru.
The moment the man got down from the bus, he was assaulted by about four youths.
The police said the man has sustained a three-four centimetre deep cut injury near the waist after he was pierced with a sharp weapon.
He was rushed to a private hospital and is out of danger.
The woman too was beaten up by the group, when she tried to prevent the attack.
A case has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including Section 307 (attempt to murder) at the Kankanady Town police station.
Four teams — led by deputy superintendent of police, (law and order) Hariram Shankar and assistant commissioner of police (south sub-division) Ranjit Kumar Bandaru — are investigating the case.
“Several people have been detained and the accused have been identified,” Shashi Kumar said.
He added, “We are in the process of identifying those who encouraged the group to commit the crime by sharing information. We are also looking for people who may have captured the scene on their mobile phones and will examine CCTV footage.”
It is suspected that the man and the woman were being watched for the past few days.