Tension prevailed in Shivamogga city on Thursday evening following an assault on a resident of Gopala by a group of youths.
As Venkatesh, the victim, was rushed to hospital for treatment, several senior leaders of the BJP including Lok Sabha members visited the hospital and alleged that goondas of a particular religion were behind the incident.
Tunga Police registered a case and investigated the incident. They have arrested Salman, 20 and Syed Suban, 18 on charges of assaulting Venkatesh.
Superintendent of Police B.M. Laxmi Prasad, in a press release, said that the incident happened around 6.30 p.m. when Venkatesh had gone out for a walk with his pet. While he was returning home, Salman, Syed Suban and Aslam were engaged in an argument with another person Chinnu, who regularly give away cameras for rent. And, they were arguing with each other over paying the rent. The accused had just come out of a wine shop by then.
Later they turned towards Venkatesh and wanted to know why he was staring at them. This led to a heated argument. The accused allegedly hit him with a boulder and ran away.
The incident attracted attention as the city is returning to normalcy after violence following the murder of Hindutva activist Harsha.
