13 booked in Yadgir for caste-based assault on five over minor dispute

A case has been registered against 13 men in connection with an alleged caste-based assault on five people at Gursunagi village in Wadagera taluk of Yadgir district, police said.

The incident occurred on Sunday when Tayappa, an auto-rickshaw driver, reached Gursunagi to pick up four passengers — Renuka, Siddappa, Siddalinga and Chandamma. The four had come to the village for the Siddalingeshwar temple fair and were about to head back to their native village, Chamanal.

According to the complaint, the trouble began over a petty issue after a group of local men claimed that Tayappa's moving auto-rickshaw had brushed past one of them. A group of 13 men then attacked the driver and the passengers with lathis, the complaint said, adding that the assailants also abused them with explicit casteist remarks.

All five victims were injured in the attack and were shifted to the Yadgir District Hospital for treatment.

Those booked have been identified as Manjunath, Siddappa, Ravi, Sabanna, Nagaraj, Mallu, Raju, Ramesh, Parashuram, Chandru, Maruthi, Devaraj and Santosh.

The accused face charges under Sections 189(2), 191(2), 191(3), 115(2), 118(1), 352 and 190 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Sections 3(1)(r), 3(1)(s), 3(1)(w) and 3(2)(va) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Yadgir Superintendent of Police Pruthvik Shankar confirmed that a case had been registered. Two of the accused have been arrested, and a search is under way to trace and apprehend the remaining 11.