The ongoing tussle between owners of food trucks and local civic agency authorities took an ugly turn on Thursday night at HSR Layout when the owner of a food truck, Shakti Subbarao, was allegedly assaulted by the area councillor and unidentified people.
Last week, food truck owners in the area had complained of having to shell out huge bribes to civic officials to run their business. They claimed they were often harassed if they failed to pay up. At the time, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike refuted all these allegations. There are no rules that govern the operations of food trucks in Bengaluru, which according to owners, leave them vulnerable to such attacks.
On Thursday, the councillor of HSR Layout, Gurumurthy Reddy, allegedly threatened the owner of Gypsy Kitchen, a food truck that operates on 27th Main, HSR Layout. Mr. Reddy got into a scuffle with Mr. Subbarao. The food truck owner was then immediately attacked by unidentified people, who, he said, were accompanying the councillor.
‘Warned before attack’
According to Mr. Subbarao, the threats and subsequent attack were preceded by a warning delivered by Mr. Reddy around 7 p.m. on Thursday. “He told us first not to park at the spot and left. Then, at 10.45 p.m., he came back in a drunken state and started shouting at my customers and then broke the spoon stand of the ice cream buggy and spit on a customer.” Mr. Subbarao said.
Efforts to file a complaint against Mr. Reddy on Friday morning were initially dismissed by the local police, but finally an FIR was registered against the councillor. After senior police officials intervened, the HSR Layout police registered a case of assault and criminal intimidation against Mr. Reddy.
When contacted, Mr. Reddy said he noticed a fight happening at the food truck and that he stepped in to resolve the fight. “I tried to save them and scolded them for parking their truck there and this is what they are alleging of me. They have space at 17th Cross, but still they keep returning to this area,” he said.
They started punching me and hit me with a stool on my head. Shakti Subbarao, owner, Gypsy Kitchen
I saw a fight happening and stopped to scold them for parking in that spot. They started the fight and assaulted me. Gurumurthy Reddy, HSR Layout councillor
A case of assault and criminal intimidation has been lodged against the councillor and unknown persons. Police official
