Suresh Kallada, owner of the Kallada group, appeared before the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Thrikkakara, here on Thursday. The police took his statement as part of the ongoing probe into the assault on three passengers on the group’s Thiruvananthapuram-Bengaluru bus on Sunday.
A notice was issued under Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure asking him to appear before the investigating officer after the arrest of his employees in connection with the attack.
He had initially refused to appear before the police citing health reasons. The police then asked him to produce the health certificate to prove his health condition.
The owner of the contract carriage company eventually turned up before Stuart Keeler, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Thrikkakara, by around 4 p.m.
It is learnt that the police had collected evidence from him regarding his workers involved in the attack.
The investigating officers had also taken into consideration various other complaints raised against the group by passengers through social media while recording the statement of the group owner.
More visuals
More visuals of the brutal assault on the passengers Sachin and Muhammed Ashgar emerged on Thursday.
CCTV footage showed Kallada employees attacking them at a location close to the group’s office near the Vyttila junction. This happened after the first round of attack inside the bus.
The footage shows a group of Kallada workers assaulting Sachin. The youth is found pleading even as the bus employees continue their attack.
The visuals also reveal a worker holding a beer bottle and standing close to him even as others are seen kicking the victim. Finally, Sachin manages to free himself from the clutches of the assailants and is seen crossing the national highway dangerously amid the traffic.
₹8.50-lakh fine
Meanwhile, a senior official of the Motor Vehicles Department’s enforcement wing said Kallada Travels owed a whopping ₹8.50 lakh as fine to the MVD for speeding (exceeding the 90 kmph speed limit on highways) and other offences. “The fine was imposed on 60 of its buses which were involved in 2,180 traffic offences, mainly speeding, since 2013. One of the buses was caught on camera for speeding 159 times during the period,” he said.