A tattoo artist and his two friends, all from Nagaland, were allegedly assaulted by a group of residents with wooden sticks and stones at the Kondhwa locality in Pune, police said Saturday.
The incident took place around 8.30 pm on Thursday.
An FIR over the incident, registered at Kondhwa police station Friday, stated that the accused attacked the three Nagaland men for “no reason”.
Police have so far arrested one person, and a search is on for the remaining accused.
Per the FIR, the complainant is a 26-year-old freelance tattoo artist from Kohima in Nagaland who has been residing at Shivneri Nagar, Kondhwa Khurd, Pune, with his wife for the last year.
Two of his friends from Nagaland also reside in a nearby house.
The incident happened around 8.30 pm on Thursday when the tattoo artist was having tea at a restaurant near his residence, and his friends came to the spot, FIR stated.
“While he was chatting with his friends, three youths came to the place on a scooter. One of them allegedly slapped the tattoo artist’s friends and abused the three men from Nagaland for no reason,” the FIR said.
It also mentions that an attacker thrashed the head of one of the three with a wooden stick, leaving him injured.
Also, the face of another victim started bleeding after an attacker hit him with a stone. The FIR mentions that the attackers also maltreated the restaurant owner and a woman who intervened to help the victims.
Meanwhile, some aides of the attackers also reached the spot and marched towards the victims.
The tattoo artist and his friends ran away from the spot. One of them lost his cell phone while escaping, police said.
The FIR mentions that after some time, the victims came to know from people that one Umar Shaikh and his aides were allegedly among the attackers.
Based on a complaint filed by the tattoo artist, the police booked Umar and around ten aides from Kondhwa under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt using a dangerous weapon), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The injured persons were provided treatment at the Sassoon hospital, police said.
When contacted, the complainant said they sought a legal opinion and did not want to comment now.
Assistant police inspector Sukeshna Jadhav said that one accused person has been arrested and that a further investigation is underway.
Senior police inspector Santosh Sonawane of Kondhwa police station said, “From the probe so far, it appears that the accused persons are miscreants, and they attacked the victims from Nagaland for no particular reason. The complainant and accused persons are residents of the same area. We have arrested one accused. Others are on the run, and one is known to be a history-sheeter.”