The Karnataka High Court has directed Bengaluru police to refrain from taking coercive action against Indian Air Force (IAF) Wing Commander Shiladitya Bose in a road rage case. The Wing Commander has been booked for attempting to murder a call centre employee following a road rage incident in Bengaluru’s CV Raman Nagar on April 21.
The High Court on April 24 directed that no coercive action be taken against Shiladitya and not summon him without following due process. It also directed that the police “shall not submit the charge sheet without leave of this court.”
Vikas Kumar, a call centre employee, and Shiladitya Bose got into an altercation, which turned into a fight. In a video on social media, Shiladitya alleged that Vikas accosted him and his wife and abused him in Kannada without provocation. Shiladitya claimed he had been attacked, and his face and neck were streaked with blood. Outrage quickly swelled over the alleged assault on a defence officer. Subsequent CCTV footage, however, showed Shiladitya striking Vikas Kumar multiple times, while onlookers repeatedly tried to pull him back.
Shiladitya claimed Vikas assaulted him. While it is still unclear who dealt the first blow, CCTV footage that later emerged shows that both men assaulted each other.
Vikas was arrested and released on station bail.
In a video statement, he said that although the Police Commissioner had assured him that the investigation would continue and that it would not affect his job, the HR personnel at his workplace had called him, and that he feared losing his job.
Meanwhile, the police have not named Shiladitya as the accused and instead have registered a case against the male driver of the Maruti Suzuki car. However, in their complaint to the police on April 21, the couple had said that Shiladitya’s wife, Madhumita, was driving the car.
