The city office of the multi-national construction company MFAR Constructions Private Ltd. on Light House Hill Road here was stoned by two persons, one of them a member of the right wing group Rama Sene around 7 p.m. on Saturday. The glass window broke into pieces.
Yogesh, a driver at the company, who was standing near a car parked outside the office, said he heard the glass window of the office shatter, and saw two unknown persons running away. He raised an alarm and security person tried to chase them but the culprits managed to escape.
“It happened in a matter of seconds. I still have no idea why they had done it,” he said. The only other employee who was nearby, Dharmapal, an accountant with the company, too did not know why or who was behind the attack. Sene leader Prasad Attavar, who was previously with the Sri Rama Sene and was an accused in the 2009 pub attack case, however, maintained that the attack was not directed by his group. He admitted that one of the two attackers did belong to his group and that he was unhappy with the company because it had not cleared a pending bill.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) K.V. Jagadish said preliminary investigation suggested that a disgruntled contractor, who had not been paid for construction material supplied to the company, may have been behind the attack.
Prasad Attavar said, “This is by an individual, and not by the group” .
Manager of MFAR’s zonal office here Mahanthesh told The Hindu that he was away in Bangalore and was yet to get the details. Asked about payment issues, he said it was usual for company to get goods and make payment later.