71-year-old dragged by scooter, rider arrested

Police said a 71-year-old man was dragged on the streets of Bengaluru on Tuesday as he firmly held onto a scooter driven by a youth attempting to escape after allegedly crashing into the former’s car.

Bengaluru police have arrested a 25-year-old man on charges of attempt to murder after he dragged a man on the road for over 500 meters, officials said on Tuesday.

a 25-year-old man was seen dragging a man on the road for over 500 metres in a viral video

Police said a 71-year-old man was dragged on the streets of Bengaluru on Tuesday as he firmly held onto a scooter driven by a youth attempting to escape after allegedly crashing into the former’s car.

The youth, identified as 25-year-old Sahil, allegedly crashed into Mutthappa Shivayogi’s SUV from behind at Magadi Road, and when he attempted to question the former, he tried to escape, police said.

A case has been registered under sections 307 (attempt murder), 337 (causing hurt) and 338 (rash or negligent act) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), police said.

According to the complaint lodged by Shivayogi, a publisher by profession, as he was being dragged, Sahil said that he would kill him.

“As I was travelling through the west of chord road, I received a phone call. I stopped the vehicle by the side of the road and got out of the vehicle. At this time, a man on a scooter came and hit my vehicle from the rear. When I tried to stop him, he tried to speed away,” read the complaint in the FIR.

“I then held a stand on the rear of the scooter to stop him, but he continued to ride. During this time, he said, how dare I hold on to his bike and said that he would kill me. Even though other commuters asked him to stop the vehicle, he did not and dragged me for more than 500-600 meters before he was stopped by some commuters,” the complaint added.

Shivayogi is currently undergoing treatment at Gayathri hospital in Bengaluru and is out of danger. Talking to the media, he said that he has multiple injuries on his legs from being dragged on the scooter.

According to preliminary information, police said Sahil was riding on a scooter bearing registration number KA-05-KU-0833 (Suzuki Access).

He hit the Bolero, owned by Shivayogi, from behind and tried to escape. Talking to the media, Shivayogi said he decided to hold onto the scooter since Sahil behaved arrogantly with him.

“I was riding my SUV (Mahindra Bolero). He hit my vehicle from behind around 1 pm near the toll gate on Magadi Road. When I questioned him, he tried to escape without stopping. I decided not to let him escape because of his attitude. So I caught the scooter handle,” said Shivayogi told the media.

According to Shivayogi, the scooter rider was busy with his phone, instead of looking at the road and riding unsafely. “He was trying to increase his speed and tried to hit on my hand a couple of times so that I leave the handle. A few commuters tried to stop him, near Hosahalli metro station an autorickshaw driver stopped him,” he said.

“If he had stopped and apologised to me, I would have let him go, but the scooter rider did not even bother to stop when I was being dragged,” Shivayogi said.

“A hospital is now providing medical care for the victim. The police have arrested the two-wheeler driver at Govindaraj Nagar police station,” Laxman B Nimbargi, DCP West, said.

The incident comes weeks after a 20-year-old girl, Anjali, riding a scooty, was hit by a car and dragged by it for 12km in New Delhi. Anjali, who worked at an event management company, was riding her scooter with her friend Nidhi when a car hit her. Anjali’s leg was caught in the left front wheel of the car, as per the forensics report, and she was dragged for 12 kilometres.