Vidvat Loganathan's house at Dollars Colony in Bengaluru saw a steady stream of reporters. But everyone was turned down by a family member who would come to the gate and inform that the young man who had been injured in an attack recently was not at home.
After a fortnight of painful recovery, 24-year-old Vidvat, who was brutally assaulted by Bengaluru Youth Congress General Secretary Mohammed Haris Nalapad was discharged from the Mallya hospital on the wee hours of Monday morning.
Vidvat was taken to his relative's home and his family members told the media that he would be taken to Kerala for further recuperation.
According to hospital sources, Vidvat's discharge papers were signed on Sunday evening. "His family members did not want the media to intercept him. The media was waiting outside the hospital till 10.30 pm. Hence, they decided to take him home after the media persons had left. He went home early this morning (Monday)," the source said.
Vidvat’s statement
One of the reasons why the court rejected bail to Nalapad was because Vidvat had not recorded his statement yet. However, before his discharge from the hospital, he was finally able to give his version to the police.
Vidvat has described in detail to the Central Crime Branch sleuths, the merciless way in which he was beaten up by Nalapad and his associates, despite him begging them to spare him.
"They not only beat him twice at Farzi Cafe, they dragged him to the parking lot and beat him there as well," the source said.
Vidvat had gone to Farzi Cafe with a woman friend. An officer in the investigating team said that initially Nalapad and another accused Arun Kumar told Vidvat to not stretch his leg. According to Vidvat, he had stretched his leg that had been injured and Nalapad almost tripped on it.
"This led to an argument. Nalapad and company went and sat at another table and Arun Kumar kept staring at Vidvat, which led to another argument. That's when things got out of control and the gang began assaulting Vidvat," CCB sources told TNM.
The assault, however, did not end there. Vidvat is said to have hit Arun Kumar a few times in self defence but could not protect himself against the gang.
"As per Vidvat's statement, bouncers at Farzi Cafe intervened and broke up the fight. Vidvat and his woman friend are said to have gone to the ground floor and when they were still in the escalator, Nalapad and his aides intercepted Vidvat and dragged him back to Farzi Cafe. This time they beat him with bottles and ice buckets. The girl and Vidvat kept apologising and begged Nalapad and his associates to let Vidvat go but that did not stop them," the CCB source added.
The gang is said to have dragged Vidvat to the parking lot in UB City and there they thrashed him once more and left. It was after this that Vidvat's friend Praveen was called in for help. He was immediately rushed to Mallya Hospital," the CCB sources added.
Investigators have also recorded Vidavt's brother Satvik's statement. Police say that as per Satvik's statement, Nalapad and his associates were already at Mallya Hospital when he got there to meet his brother.
"When Satvik rushed to Mallya Hospital, Nalapad and his aides were already at the hospital. They confronted both Vidvat and Satvik and threatened them with dire consequences if they registered a complaint. We have taken the statements of eye witnesses and have sent the evidence gathered from the cafe for forensic test," the CCB source said.
Meanwhile, according to media reports, Nalapad's lawyer has approached the Karnataka High Court seeking bail as the sessions court had denied him bail on March 2. The court had said that bail could not be given as the police had not recorded Vidvat's statement at the time.