Challenging star Darshan assaulted Dalit waiter in Mysuru, alleges Indrajith Lankesh

Team Udayavani, Jul 15, 2021, 6:19 PM IST

Bengaluru: Film director and journalist Indrajith Lankesh alleged that Sandalwood actor Darshan Thoogudeepa and his friends have assaulted a Dalit waiter in a Mysuru hotel recently.

Indrajith Lankesh met Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday, July 15 told that Mysuru city police had gone for settlement between the two parties instead of filing a criminal case and reportedly urged the minister to give directions to the police to investigate the case.

Addressing presspersons after meeting with the home minister, Indrajit said, “Darshan has assaulted a Dalit waiter at a hotel in Mysuru during a late-night party and the waiter has sustained injuries to his eye which has led to blurring. The following day, the injured supplier’s wife arrived at the hotel with a broom demanding action against those who assaulted her husband. But the police struck a compromise between the two parties.,”

“The police stations in Mysuru have turned into settlement centres and the common man is getting no justice,” said Indrajith.

“I am speaking out as I cannot be a mute spectator to what celebrities are doing. The common man is suffering in all this. I have enough evidence to prove Darshan and his friends Rakesh Papanna, son of Siddaramaiah’s close aide and Melanta assaulted the supplier. I am shocked to see the violent language being used by the actor during the press meets,” said Indrajith, adding the CCTV footages from the hotel too had been deleted.

Indrajith also expressed concern that the recent fake loan case, involving Darshan’s friends and a woman named Aruna Kumari, was also headed for a settlement.

On July 3, a case was booked at Hebbal police station in Mysuru against Harsha Melanta, Darshan’s friend and hotelier, and three others including Bengaluru-based woman Aruna Kumari, for attempting to fraudulently secure a loan of Rs 25 crore by forging the property documents of Darshan’s farm house in Mysuru.