One stabbed five times with a dagger; two hit with empty beer bottles; accused absconding  

Mysore/Mysuru: Four friends got into an argument over a trivial matter at a bar and restaurant in the city last midnight after a birthday party and fought with each other.

The heated arguments resulted in one of the friends stabbing the other with a dagger five times and hitting the other two with empty beer bottles. The accused is absconding now and the Vijayanagar Police have launched a manhunt to nab him.

The incident occurred at 12.30 am at Bhoomi Putra Bar and Restaurant on the Hinkal-Ring Road Junction. Raviswamy, Santhosh, Chandru, Anu Shivappa, all aged between 30 and 35 years and residents of Hinkal and Vijayanagar, were celebrating the birthday party hosted by Pradeep. After cutting the birthday cake at around 12 am, Pradeep left the bar and asked his friends to continue partying.

The Police said that the friends got into the bar early and they were drunk even before the cake was cut. As Pradeep left the place, Raviswamy and Anu Shivappa got into an argument over a silly matter and Anu Shivappa, who claims to be the State President of Rashtriya Shivashakthi Senapade, hit Raviswamy’s ear with an empty beer bottle. The bottle broke and Raviswamy was writhing in pain.

Moments later, Anu Shivappa left the place and headed towards his SUV. Meanwhile, Santhosh and Chandru followed Anu Shivappa and questioned him as to why he assaulted Raviswamy. According to the Police, an enraged Anu Shivappa came back to the bar table and attacked Santhosh with a dagger and picked up another empty beer bottle to  assault Chandru.

While Santhosh was stabbed with the dagger five times, Chandru sustained injuries on his hand as he tried to avoid being hit with the bottle. Police said that the bar staff immediately called the Vijayanagar Police to report the incident. The injured have been admitted to a private hospital.

Police said that while Santhosh has been admitted to the ICU in a critical condition, Raviswamy and Chandru have been admitted as outpatients. A case has been registered at Vijayanagar Police Station.

The bar staff told the Police that they did not know the identities of the victims and the assaulter but told the Police that the place was under CCTV surveillance. The Police have identified the accused Anu Shivappa through the CCTV footage and efforts are on to arrest him.