Indian Air Force officer Wing Commander Shiladitya Bose was involved in a road‑rage altercation in Bengaluru on 18 April. In a now‑viral Instagram video, Bose appears with blood on his face and neck as he describes being assaulted. CCTV footage, however, also shows Bose repeatedly hitting Vikas Kumar, a call centre employee, while bystanders struggle to intervene. Shiladitya and his wife, Madhumita, were on their way to the Kempegowda International Airport from DRDO Colony in CV Raman Nagar when the incident occurred.
Speaking to the media, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), D Devaraj, said the attack was not over language. “It is a clear-cut case of road rage, which could have been avoided by both sides. We have been inspecting the footage.”
Madhumita was driving the car when a biker named Vikas Kumar came speeding on a bike. She objected to it, and they had a verbal altercation. That’s how the scuffle broke out,” he told TNM.
The DCP said that the incident happened around 6.20 am, and they were checking minute-by-minute footage to ascertain how the fight started. The police officer added that eyewitnesses told the police that Vikas Kumar used his key while punching Shiladitya in the face.
Madhumita, who is a Squadron Leader, later filed a complaint with the Baiyappanahalli police. Bengaluru police have arrested Vikas Kumar based on the complaint.
The officer said that if Vikas Kumar filed a counter complaint, then they would be registering a case against the Wing Commander as well.
One of the eyewitnesses told the media that he was unsure who started the fight, but by the time he rushed down, hearing the noise, Shiladitya was attacking the delivery person. “The officer’s face was bleeding. I don’t know how the fight started. But when I saw the officer hitting the person (Vikas) brutally. He must have hit him at least 30 times, and at one point, I thought the person would die. Even if it was an accident, the officer should have shown some common sense and not done this. We tried to stop him, but he just wouldn’t,” an eyewitness told Times Now.
In the video he posted, Shiladitya described how a motorcyclist aggressively approached their car, banged on the door, and started hurling abuses in Kannada. He alleged that the biker grew hostile after spotting the DRDO sticker on their vehicle and began targeting them for being part of the defence organisation.
“When they saw the DRDO sticker on the car, they said, ‘you DRDO people’, and began abusing my wife,” he said. The situation escalated when Shiladitya stepped out of the vehicle and was allegedly struck on the forehead with a key by the biker, who also bit his finger. He also alleged that another man hit him in the head with a stone, and more people abused them.
Shiladitya, who was bleeding from the head, said the group of men continued to hurl abuses at him and his wife. He said he was deeply disappointed at the police’s initial response, stating that they did not receive immediate help when they tried to file a complaint. “This is what Karnataka has become; I believed in Karnataka…I couldn’t believe it. God help us,” he said in the video.
“If law and order doesn’t help us, I will retaliate,” he added. While Shiladitya left for Kolkata soon after the incident, his wife, Madhumita, later filed a complaint with the Baiyappanahalli police. Shiladitya also said that he was afraid of leaving his wife and child alone in Bengaluru.
In Madhumita’s complaint, she said a motorcycle was being driven recklessly. She recounted that the rider dismounted and began banging on their car door.
"We got out and tried to intervene, but he didn’t stop and began assaulting my husband. He then picked up a stone and struck my husband on the head," she said. She alleged the rider said, "I see the DRDO sticker. This is Kannada land—watch what I do."