Bantwal barber attack; Bhuvith Shetty and 4 others arrested

Bantwal: For allegedly assaulting a barber with an intention to kill him, robbing him and vandalised his salon, five including Bhuvith Shetty, a right-wing activist were arrested by the Bantwal police here on Wednesday, June 27^th.

The arrested have been identified as Bajrang Dal member Bhuvith Shetty (27), a resident of Kallumajalu, Bantwal, Vasanth Kumar (32), a resident of Modankap, Bantwal, Kamalaksha (21), a resident of Ajjibettu house, Bantwal, Jithendra alias Jeethu (32), resident of Mithabail, Bantwal and Abhijith alias Abhi (22), a resident of Sanchayagiri house, Bantwal.

On June 10^th, at 9:15pm, a gang of 15 men arrived on bikes to Durga men’s parlour at Thumbe junction. The gang allegedly hurled expletives at Deekshith, a barber in the salon and it is alleged that Bhuvith Shetty, one of the accused, tried to hit Deekshith on the head with soft drink bottle with an intention to kill him.

Deekshith sustained injuries on the left side of his head and nose. The gang robbed him of his mobile phone worth Rs 10,000, broke the glass enclosure of the salon and damaged the chair with soda bottles and stones. They threatened to kill Deekshith before escaping.

The arrested have been booked under sections 143, 147, 148, 448, 504, 324, 307, 395, 427 and 149 and the case has been registered at Bantwal police station. All the accused will be produced in the court and the police are on look out for the absconding.

Bhuvith Shetty has several cases against him, and was earlier arrested in connection to Harish murder case and also for posting a threatening tweet on Prof Bhagawan after the murder of Prof M M Kalburgi.

The attack on the salon resulted in Coastalwood actor Surendra and his associates allegedly attacking Bhuvith Shetty’s gang on June 10th. The police have already arrested Surendra and his accomplices Sathish Kulal, Prithviraj J Shetty, Deepak, Pavan, Shailesh and Ranjith.