Rabi and Sharmila, along with their two children and elderly mother, hid in the bathroom for over two hours on Tuesday night while a mob of around 600 men vandalised their neighbour Naveen Kumar’s house in Kaval Byrasandra. The family are tenants of Naveen.
“We bolted all the doors, switched off the lights and hid in the bathroom. Around 50 people broke off from the main mob, opened our main door and barged in. I rushed out of the bathroom, knelt down before them and begged them to spare us. They realised we were in no way linked to the family next door and went away, but not before vandalising our house and taking all valuables,” Rabi told The Hindu on Wednesday afternoon.
T. Pavan Kumar, Naveen’s father, said his family had to cross over to the terrace of the adjoining building to escape the mob. “We were lucky to have made it alive,” he said. His house was vandalised and gutted after being set on fire.
The mob also vandalised and set fire to a bar on the opposite lane. The cashier, Praveen, said the men barged in and demanded that he down the shutters. “Initially, we resisted, but then followed their orders. But the enraged mob set fire to the bar,” said Praveen.
Four bikes were also torched.
Ranjitha, who lives near DJ Halli, said her family was instructed by neighbours to bolt all the doors, switch off the lights and make no noise. “We stayed like that for nearly three hours, just like our neighbours. We came out of our house on Wednesday morning after seeing on TV that the violence had abated,” she said.
Her husband said they heard sounds of rioting, stone pelting and even firing. “It was a very long night. We were worried for our lives. This is something we have never experienced,” said Kumar, who resides a stone’s throw away from DJ Halli Police Station.