Tripura man arrested in Bengaluru for insulting Kannadigas

A massage therapist from Tripura was arrested in Bengaluru for allegedly insulting Kannadigas and Karnataka after he spoke offensively to a delivery boy who contacted him regarding the delivery of a parcel.

According to a Times of India report, the incident took place on Thursday morning when the arrested, identified as Mithun Sarkar, a resident of Begur Main Road in Hongasandra, Bengaluru and hailing from Tripura, got a call from Ranjith, a 29-year-old delivery boy.

When Rajnith, who works for a logistics firm called Sarkar at around 9.30 am, as his address was not properly mentioned on his parcel and asked him to share the location of his house, Sarkar, who replied in Hindi, started abusing Rajnith for speaking in Kannada.

If Hindi-speaking people leave…

Even when Rajnith spoke to Sarkar in Hindi and requested him to stop abusing him, Sarkar did not mend his ways and continued to insult Kannadigas and Karnataka.

According to the report, Sarkar told Ranjith that if 70 per cent of the Hindi-speaking people living in Karnataka leave the state, the locals would not even have RS 10 to buy tomatoes.

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Mocked food habits

Sarkar also mocked the food habits of Kannadigas and asked Rajnith what they eat apart from ragi mudda, sambar, idli and dosa. The report further stated that Sarkar also said that the locals in Karnataka have chicken with ragi only once a week.

“We are Bengali people, brother. The way we eat, you people, Kannada wala, cannot even imagine,” Sarkar was quoted in the report as saying.

Rajnith said Sarkar not only dared him to record his call and take his tower location, but despite being repeatedly asked for his accurate address, only said "Bommanahalli, Begur.”

Rajnith further alleged that he called Sarkar four times, and every time, he abused him. The delivery boy also said that he shared the conversation with members of the pro-Kannada organisations and, with their help, lodged a police complaint against Sarkar.

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Can speak fluent Kannada

Police said that an FIR was lodged against Sarkar under sections 196 (promoting enmity between groups) and 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace following which Sarkar was arrested.

The report further stated that during interrogation, Sarkar admitted that he could speak fluent Kannada and took out his frustration on Rajnith as he was not getting paid properly by his employer.