The Hulimavu police on Thursday arrested the owner of a chaat centre and three of his employees for allegedly assaulting two beat constables around 1 a.m. on Thursday.
Constables P. Chandrashekhar, 26, and Siddu Nayak, 28, who were on night patrol, stopped two of the accused near Nanjappa Layout in Arekere as they were riding a scooter in a rash and negligent manner. The constables asked them for their identity documents, but instead of responding, the duo called their friends for help.
According to the police, two more men from a house in the area joined them and started attacking the constables. One of the accused snatched Chandrashekhar’s lathi and beat him until it broke. The other three overpowered Siddu Nayak, pelted him with stones and kicked him until he fell on the ground.
Chandrashekhar was able to alert the control room following which a Hoysala patrol vehicle reached the spot within a few minutes and caught the accused who were trying to flee after spotting the backup police team.
The four men — Vinod Guru, owner of the chaat centre, and his employees Divyajyothi Das, Ameer Biswankar and Ajay Thaman — were arrested and remanded in judicial custody.
Assaults on the rise
Over the past four days, at least eight constables have been attacked by members of the public.
When he was police commissioner, N.S. Megharikh had issued a circular making it compulsory for the police to carry their weapons as a deterrent to such attacks. Most personnel, however, do not comply with the rules for fear that they will lose their weapons and cause embarrassment to the force, said a senior police official.
