KOCHI: The alleged incident in which a woman was assaulted for putting up a ‘non-halal food’ board in front of her eatery here has taken a curious turn, with police registering a case against the woman and her partner for encroaching upon the land of another hotel owner and beating up two persons, following a clash over the eatery’s ownership.
In the incident’s aftermath, Infopark police launched a probe against four persons — Thushara Nandu, owner of the hotel, her husband Ajith, Appu and one unidentified person, who are still at large. Police said the ‘made up’ story posted on social media was meant to draw attention to Thushara and mislead the ongoing inquiry. Nakul S Babu and Binoj George, who were targeted, sustained severe injuries in the attack.
The incident happened on Sunday evening. According to police, Thushara, her husband and two accomplices had removed a chat kiosk in front of the restaurant, ‘Dine’, run by Nakul at Chil Se Food Spot in the food court at Nilampathinjimukal under Infopark police station limits.
The restaurant is near the eatery owned by Thushara which is yet to be opened. On being questioned, Ajith and others attacked Nakul and Binoj with lethal weapons. Binoj who sustained severe injuries underwent surgery.
However, the story of assault for non-halal food board was spread on social media after Thushara lodged a complaint against Nakul and Binoj for attacking her and outraging her modesty. Meanwhile, Nakul also approached police with a complaint alleging that Thushara and her husband manhandled them.
On investigation, police found that the allegations levelled by Thushara were baseless. They also found that what happened was a planned attack by Ajith and Thushara.