The City Market police are on the hunt for the owner of a recreation club who allegedly branded three employees with burning camphor to punish them for a mistake they had made. The incident took place within the club premises on Balepete road last Tuesday.
Based on the complaint filed by one of the victims, Divakar, 20, who hails from Chitradurga, the police registered an FIR against the owner, Sharath R., on Sunday.
In his complaint, Divakar said he along with his colleagues Sharath and Gopal had been working in the club for the last seven months. “Last Tuesday, the owner discovered that the pipe attached to the washbasin in the washroom had been burnt and questioned Divakar, who replied he knew nothing of the incident,” said a police officer.
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Sharath, who was furious, summoned all three of them to his office and allegedly beat them up badly under the pretext of questioning them. According to Divakar, they pleaded that they knew nothing about the incident following which, Sharath R. took out pieces of camphor. “He placed them on the palm of their hands and lit them, stating that the camphor had special powers to extract the truth,” the officer added. He told them that camphor would not burn the palms of those who were truthful and threatened them to stand still.
The trio sustained burns and started crying out in pain following which Sharath accused them of burning the pipe and threw them out of the club. He allegedly refused to pay their salary.