Bengaluru: A wholesale dealer in textiles and his employee have been arrested for allegedly assaulting a woman on suspicion of stealing a bundle of sarees from his shop near KR Market.The woman was detained after Maya Silk Sarees owner Umed Ram, 44 complained to police on Sept 21 about a theft from his store. He and his assistant Mahendra Seervi, 25, were arrested as a video clip of the duo assaulting her in full public view on a pavement went viral on social media.Hampamma, 55, a native of Guntakal in Andhra Pradesh, along with a teenage boy, was found loitering near the shop on Avenue Road on Sept 20. She allegedly entered the shop on the pretext of seeing sarees and fled the place with a bundle of 61 sarees kept at the entrance. The incident came to light when Ram was checking on CCTV recordings at the shop.Ram spotted the woman roaming near his shop the next day. He and Mahendra allegedly assaulted her badly with the former kicking her multiple times.In a video recorded by the public, the woman is found apologising to Ram and telling him she sold the sarees she had stolen to arrange money to buy alcohol.After the incident, Ram called the police helpline 112 and a Hoysala police team detained her. She has been remanded in judicial custody in Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara since her arrest. Ram claimed the sarees Hampamma had stolen were worth Rs 91,500 and were meant to be delivered to a customer from Dubasipalya near Kengeri.Police initially maintained they were not aware of the assault on her. However, a group of pro-Kannada activists gathered in front of the shop Thursday evening and protested, alleging police didn’t register a complaint against the shopkeeper despite her telling cops about the assault.Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) S Girish said that a case was registered against Ram and Mahendra soon after cops came to know about the assault. The duo, arrested on Thursday night, was remanded in judicial custody.
