Mangaluru police rubbish claims of pub fight between right-wing group, students

Mangaluru city's police commissioner, N Shashi Kumar, on Tuesday quashed reports of an attack on a local pub late last night, at which members of a right-wing group were alleged to have forcibly stopped a private party organised by college students.

Reports of an attack on a Mangaluru pub late last night - at which college students were hosting a private party - are incorrect, the city's police commissioner, N Shashi Kumar, told reporters today, adding that no physical altercation had been reported or complaint filed.

Mangaluru city's police commissioner, N Shashi Kumar, told reporters that no pub was attacked on Monday night, and that there was no physical altercation or complaint filed.

The top cop's remarks comes after reports on social media and elsewhere that members of the Bajrang Dal, a right-wing group, barged into and disrupted a private event.

News agency PTI cited police sources as claiming the outsiders abused the party guests and forcibly stopped the event being held at the Recycle Pub in Mangaluru's Balmata area.

Unconfirmed reports quote the Bajrang Dal's district head as saying the party had been targeted because pupils from the same institute made headlines after a viral video showed two students kissing during another party - inside a private residence.

The police, however, have played down the incident.

"... there was an incident yesterday. At about 9 pm, about five to sixboys - claiming to belong to some organisation - came near the premises of Recycle Restaurant & Pub. They asked bouncers to verify with the manager if there are minors who might be consuming alcohol. Consumption of alcohol by anyone under 21 is a violation of law," Shashi Kumar said.

The top cop said the bouncer spoke to the manager and some students were sent out.

"It was circulated on social media there was an attack on pub. There hasn't been any attack on any pub or restaurant. They had come and tried to verify. There hasn't been physical altercation or exchange of words. We haven't got any complaint yet," he added.

Sunday's incident comes after eight students were booked under the POCSO Act after a video shared on social media showed two of them kissing inside a private apartment.

Read: 8 Mangaluru students booked under POCSO after kissing challenge video goes viral

The Mangaluru top cop said the minors charged in connection with that incident were not in the pub and stressed there were no arguments between the customers and the outsiders.