Dalit man dies by suicide after assault in Kolar district: Police

The alleged assault on the deceased took place in Mulabagil Taluk on November 30, said Nangali sub-inspector Pradeep Singh.

A 22-year-old Dalit man died by suicide after he was allegedly tied to a tree and assaulted by a group of men from the so called “upper caste” in a road rage incident in Kolar district of Karnataka, police said on Friday.

According to the family members of the deceased, he was travelling on a motorcycle with a friend on the day of the incident and overtook a man identified as Raju, who belongs to the “upper caste”. (Representative Photo)

The alleged assault on the deceased took place in Mulabagil Taluk on November 30, said Nangali sub-inspector Pradeep Singh.

According to the family members of the deceased, he was travelling on a motorcycle with a friend on the day of the incident and overtook a man identified as Raju, who belongs to the “upper caste”.

The deceased’s uncle said that a group of people from Raju’s village stopped the bike-borne duo and started abusing them. “They assaulted him after tying him to a tree, snatched his bike and mobile and told him to bring elders of the village. We went to the village at around 8.30 pm and managed to release him,” said the uncle.

He alleged that the 22-year-old died by hanging himself from a tree branch beside his house around 10pm that night.

According to sub-inspector Singh, the four accused were identified as Raju , Shivaraju, Gopala Krishna and Munivenkatappa.

“We registered an FIR immediately after receiving the complaint. All the four accused are absconding and police teams are searching for them,” he said.

The four were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 341 (wrongful restraint ), 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 323 (causing hurt) and 306 (Abetment of suicide) as well as provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, said Singh.

A local Dalit rights outfit on Friday warned of a severe agitation in the region if the police were unable to arrest the accused by Saturday.