Road-rage incident in Silicon Valley turns into row over language

BENGALURU: A road-rage incident involving a biker and an Indian Air Force couple in east Bengaluru snowballed into a language controversy Monday with a wing commander, who was travelling in a car along with his wife, alleging he was abused in Kannada before being assaulted without any provocation. The bleeding wing commander commented: “This is what Karnataka has become...”

Wing commander Shiladitya Bose put out a video claiming he had shown restraint when attacked. His video triggered terse reactions with netizens slamming Kannada-speaking Bengalureans for targeting outsiders. Before the city got branded negatively, police arrested the biker, Vikas Kumar, who maintained he was actually the one who was brutally attacked and not otherwise. When police analysed the video footage from CCTV cameras: Bose is seen bashing up and tossing down the biker after the verbal duel turns physical.

Deputy commissioner of police (Bengaluru East) D Devaraj said: “This is not a case related to any language or region. From the facts and evidence collated, this is a clear cut case of road rage.”

In her complaint, Bose’s wife Madhumita Dutta said she was going to drop her husband when a rashly driven bike almost hit her car.

“The biker started abusing me and hit my husband continuously, she claimed.

However, during questioning, Kumar said that he was assaulted by Bose.