Family with child assaulted after minor collision; dashcam footage helps Police nab accused

Mysuru: A road rage incident on the Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway near Maddur on the night of July 4 turned violent when a family of four, including two women and a child, was assaulted by a group of men following a minor collision between two cars.

The Maddur Town Police have arrested five persons, three of them cab drivers, in connection with the incident. The accused have been identified as Santosh Kumar of Pandavapura, Arun Kumar of Channarayapatna, D. Abhishek of Davangere, Venkate Gowda and Pratap of Bengaluru.

Police had arrested Santosh Kumar, Arun Kumar and Abhishek yesterday, while Venkate Gowda and Pratap were arrested in Bengaluru this morning. Efforts are on to trace and arrest two other accused who are allegedly involved in the assault.

According to the Police, the complainant, M. Sagar Kumar, a resident of Attiguppe in Bengaluru, was returning home after attending a family function in Mysuru.

At around 9.22 pm, as he merged onto the Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway from a service road near the Gananguru toll plaza at the Pandavapura junction, another car (KA-41-AA-5775) grazed his vehicle (KA-50-M-1790).

Verbal altercation, assault

The minor collision led to a brief verbal altercation, but the matter appeared to have ended after both vehicles crossed the toll plaza. However, the occupants of the other vehicle allegedly followed Kumar’s car up to Maddur.

Near the Madduramma Temple flyover, the group intercepted Kumar’s car, forcibly opened its doors and assaulted him, the Police said.

Kumar was attacked with a jack handle, while his wife Dhanyashri, mother-in-law Latha and grandmother Umavathi were abused when they tried to intervene. The accused continued the assault despite the presence of a child in the car. According to the complaint, one of the accused also pinched the child’s hand, leaving the family traumatised.

Complaint, arrest

Kumar was treated at the Maddur Government Hospital the same night before lodging a formal complaint. He provided the Police with the registration numbers of the vehicles involved. Investigators later examined dashcam footage and other evidence, which helped them trace three of the accused to AGS Layout in Bengaluru, leading to their arrest.

Based on Kumar’s complaint, the Maddur Town Police registered FIR No. 237/2026 under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, including Sections 189(2), 324(4), 126(2), 352, 115(2), 118(1) and 351(2).

The charges include unlawful assembly, wrongful restraint, causing property damage, voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon, intentional insult likely to provoke a breach of the peace and criminal intimidation.

Police have seized the car allegedly used in the offence. Further investigation is underway, and efforts are continuing to arrest the remaining two accused.