Indrajit Lankesh claims Darshan assaulted waiter, hotel owner denies it

By Express News Service

MYSURU/BENGALURU: While the case of an attempt to cheat actor Darshan Thoogudeepa by misusing his name is still fresh in memory, filmmaker and journalist Indrajit Lankesh has made a serious allegation against the ‘Challenging Star’, accusing him of assaulting an employee at a hotel in Mysuru on June 25 when the lockdown was in effect. The police have also been blamed for hushing up the case.

On Thursday morning, Indrajit Lankesh met Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and appealed to him to instruct the Mysuru police to probe the issue. Bommai said Indrajit’s letter has been handed over to the Mysuru City Police Commissioner, who will look into the matter. Sources said a team has been constituted under a Deputy Commissioner of Police-rank officer, who will submit a report after a probe.Indrajit has alleged that Mysuru police stations were turning into ‘settlement’ stations.

Following the allegations, Sandesh Nagaraj, a film producer who is also the Managing Director of Sandesh The Prince hotel, where the incident is alleged to have taken place, denied that any of his staff was assaulted by Darshan, but admitted there was indeed a ‘scene’ over a service issue.

“None of our staffers was assaulted by Darshan. He had come with his friends for a poolside party before the lockdown. The actor, in frustration over a service issue, had scolded a staffer but had never hit anyone. I was there during the incident,” Nagaraj said.

Indrajit claimed the ‘SC’ staffer had serious eye injuries and if police could recover the CCTV footage, they would get evidence. He also alleged that the staffer was sacked after the incident by the hotel management. However, Nagaraj refuted the allegations, saying the person in question was not a staffer but a ‘trainee’ from Maharashtra or Bihar and claimed that the incident took place before the announcement of lockdown, and not on June 25, as alleged by Indrajit Lankesh.

“We preserve the CCTV footage of 10 days only. As the incident took place before the lockdown, we don’t have the footage,” said Nagaraj, who is close to Darshan. Meanwhile, a source revealed that the alleged victim was neither from another state nor a trainee, but was employed as a waiter for the last eight years, and a resident of Nazarbad in Mysuru.