Manjunath, a visually impaired man from Bidar in Karnataka, came to the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on Saturday, allegedly to get a job from Karnataka minister SS Mallikarjun.
However, in a video released by news agency ANI on Sunday, Manjunath appears to have been treated badly by the security personnel of the minister.
In the video, the visually impaired man can be seen repeatedly trying to enter an elevator. However, he is prevented from doing so, reportedly by the security personnel of Mallikarjun.
Manjunath tries to enter the elevator several times but is prevented. Finally, the bodyguard steps out of the elevator while holding his arms, and pulls him away.
As the door to the lift shuts, the bodyguard turns around and lets go of the man as soon as he realises that they are being filmed. He then walks away, leaving Manjunath there.
When asked about the incident, Mallikarjun denied the allegation that his security personally had manhandled the visually impaired man. He told the media that “it was not done like that.”
Mallikarjun said that Manjunath had been there in his chamber and had accompanied him to the Cabinet hall.
“There he requested something, I told him to meet my personal secretary. He met him. After finishing the Cabinet meeting, I came out. I was in the lift and the lift was almost full,” he said.
Mallikarjun claimed that the person operating the lift did not agree to let Manjunath in as the lift was full.
“The gun man took his hand… he did not pull him out, he was taking him (Manjunath) out only. That’s it. Afterwards, I came back, I don’t know anything about it,” he said.