BENGALURU: A 38-year-old Australian, who is the CEO of two companies based out of Sydney and visiting Bengaluru for the first time trying to set up backend offices, was reportedly attacked and robbed near Manyata Tech Park around 2.30 am on Thursday. The victim, Aso Hamzehei, was mugged and assaulted by four accused. Three of them had pretended to come to his rescue after he faced problems while checking out of Fortune Inn Hotel where he was staying since May 23.
Hamzehei claims to have lost three bags, electronic gadgets, mobile phones, wallet and other valuables worth Rs 1.8 lakh. However, his backpack with documents and passport is safe, the police said. Hamzehei said he came to Bengaluru on May 23 and checked into Fortune Inn. The hotel management, which earlier took online payments, later insisted that its bills be paid in cash, he added.
“I approached an MNC bank to open an account and the bank staff said it would take 45 days. Problems started as I could not pay the hotel bills in cash. On the day of the incident, I returned to the hotel from a co-work space and was asked to vacate the room or to stay by paying cash. It was around 2.30 am. There were five hotel staff.
Three others who were inside the hotel, under the pretext of helping me, took me to the back of the hotel. One more person joined them. They attacked and robbed me,” he said. He later walked to the KG Halli police station nearby, but was directed to approach the Govindapura police station.
“The police were not of any help. They told me that they have arrested three persons which is not true. The complaint was registered nearly 14 hours after the incident. The police are not collecting any CCTV footage and are trying to hush up the case,” he said.
DCP (East) Bheemashankar Guled said, “A case was registered and all evidence including CCTV footage was collected the same day. One accused who is an old offender, Syed Imran, was secured early on Saturday morning.”The police have recorded statements of the hotel staff and also taken custody of a few of them as they were seen assaulting Hamzehei in the CCTV footage.
Fortune Inn Manager Jayaram said, “The foreigner had not paid bills of the last 13 days. He suddenly came in the wee hours asking to check out. When the staff did not allow him, there was a scuffle. Three men offered to help him and take him to the police station. He sat on their two-wheeler and went. Later when the police came to check our hotel’s CCTV footage, we got to know that he had been robbed.”