Chargesheet against Nalapad Haris reveals he initiated the attack

Two months after Congress MLA NA Haris’s son Mohammed Nalapad Haris was accused of assaulting L Vidwat at an upscale café in Bengaluru, the chargesheet filed by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police revealed that Nalapad initiated the incident and provoked his aides with the intention of murdering him.

The chargesheet confirmed that the clash between the two, which occurred on March 19 at Farzi Cafe in UB City, was triggered when Nalapad’s leg touched Vidwat’s right leg, which was covered with plaster of paris (PoP). This lead to Nalapad sounding off a volley of abuses and demanded him to kiss his feet and apologise. “I am a son of local MLA NA Haris. You are not even equal to my shoe. You say sorry and kiss my feet,” he is reported to have said.

When Vidwat refused to do so, Nalapad and his aides assaulted him with glass bottles, ice buckets and other items. Even though Vidwat was grievously injured in the incident, Nalapad and his aides continued to assault him. Nalapad is also accused of stating that he would kill the victim. “If you don’t say ‘sorry’, then I will kill you here only”, he reportedly said according to the chargesheet.

The chargesheet compiled statements from as many as 23 witnesses including complainant Praveen Venkatachalaiah. While seven of the accused including Nalapad are in judicial custody, police are still on the lookout for others including Krishna and Javar, three months after the incident occurred.

The assault case which caused a controversy in Bengaluru did not appear to deter Congress leader NA Haris, who contested and won from Shantinagar constituency in Bengaluru for a third straight time.

Haris comfortably won with 60,009 votes beating competition from K Vasudevamurthy (BJP), NR Sridhar Reddy (JD(S), and Renuka Vishwanathan (AAP), who got 41,804 and 13,569 and 2,658 votes repsectively.

In the run-up to the polls, Haris had distanced himself from his son's assault case saying that the case was in the judiciary and neither he nor the party had got anything to do with it.