Two engineering students from Kerala, who were travelling from Haripad in Alappuzha to Bengaluru on Saturday, 20 April, were assaulted by the staffers of the transport company and thrown out from the bus mid-journey. This happened after a scuffle broke out between the passengers and the vehicle staff, after the bus broke down at the start of the journey.
In a video that went viral on Facebook, the two engineering students – Sachin and Ashkar – can be seen being thrashed by three men and then being thrown out of the bus, which is operated by Suresh Kallada Travels. According to the two students, after being thrown out they were chased by men who work for the bus company and were attacked with beer bottles as well.
The duo also claimed that the police didn’t come to their help and eventually they managed to escape to Coimbatore via Aluva and Thrissur.
The Viral Facebook Post
In his Facebook Post, Jacob Philip who was also travelling on the same bus stated that the bus broke down 10 minutes after it started from Haripad. Reportedly, passengers lost their cool after the driver and the staff did not offer any solutions.
Philip, in his post wrote that he not only called RedBus, the ticketing portal, but also called the office of Kallada Travels. However, he alleged, they received no help from either of the companies. This is the time, the most mentions, when Sachin and Ashkar got into a heated argument with the driver. They contacted the travel operator’s office in Vytilla, Cochin, which was three hours away from where the bus was stranded.
Again, a verbal altercation broke out between the engineering students and the bus operators over the phone. Soon personnel from Haripad Police station arrived at the spot and lambasted the driver for not providing any assistance to the stranded passengers. The cops stayed with the passengers for another 30 minutes, after which another bus reached the location.
The passengers were then shifted to a new bus, in which they restarted their journey to Bengaluru.
According to Philip, he was fast asleep when the bus reached the Vytilla bus stop, and he woke up due to some noise. He saw the driver of the bus and a few of his colleagues from Kallada Travels assault Sachin and Ashkar, forcing them out of the bus.
Nightmare Starts at Vytilla
At Vytilla, the men from Kallada Travels allegedly attacked the two students with beer bottles. Sachin and Ashkar made a run for it but to no avail, as the men chased them on Yamaha RX 100 motorbikes.
Speaking with The News Minute, Ashkar and Sachin said while on the run they shared their live location with their friends on WhatsApp.
Ashkar was caught by the men, who took him to a godown near the Kallada Travels office, and threatened to run him over with a bus. Meanwhile, Sachin who was still on the run, collapsed on the main road.
Cops from Maradu Police Station caught up with Askhar at the godown and called Sachin to the spot. The duo alleged that the cops were of no help and they sent the injured men to the hospital in an auto rickshaw. However, the men from Kallada Travels were not done with them and once again chased the duo.
The students took a detour, boarded a cab booked by one of their friends and escaped to Aluva. From Aluva they boarded a bus to Thrissur and proceeded to Coimbatore by train.
All the while they kept getting death threats on their phones. Sachin and Ashkar are currently receiving treatment at a private hospital in Coimbatore after sustaining injuries to their head and limbs.
Bus Operator Claims the Students Injured a Staffer
Officials from Kallada Travels told The News Minute that Sachin and Ashkar assaulted their staffers first at Haripad and at the bus company’s Vytilla office and even injured one of their employee’s nose, which resulted in physical retaliation.
However, Sachin refuted their claims and said that they never got down at the Vytilla office. According to him, at Haripad they had verbal altercation with the driver but the altercation never became physical.
Maradu Police have arrested three men – Jayesh, Girilal and Jithin – for assaulting the passengers and a case has been registered under IPC Section 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 294(b) (Use of obscene language in public place) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).
(With inputs from The News Minute)
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