450-page chargesheet filed by police in Tikait ink attack case

Bengaluru: A 450-page chargesheet against the suspect who allegedly threw ink on Rakesh Tikait, national spokesperson for the Bharatiya Kisan Union, at Gandhi Bhavan, has been submitted by Bengaluru's High Grounds police. The chargesheet provided to the 8th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) court lists 89 witnesses in addition to recording the statements of 20 eyewitnesses.

Additionally, the chargesheet includes details about others who were detained, including Bharath Shetty, a Hindutva leader, and his accomplices Shivakumar, Pradeep Kumar, and Umadevi. According to sources, the accused told authorities that the attack's main objective was to draw their attention.

Bharat Shetty, the primary defendant, stated in an audio tape provided to the court that he threw black ink on Takait with the intention of becoming famous.

When the accused learned that Tikait would be delivering a speech at a conference on May 30 at Gandhi Bhavan, they made plans to attack him with eggs. But they soon realised that carrying the eggs there would be difficult. After that, the accused sent some hotel staff to Seshadripuram to obtain black paint. Before painting him with black paint, they allegedly assaulted Tikait with a news channel's microphone.

According to a report, deadly weapons were taken during a police raid on Umadevi's house in relation to the attack on Tikait. It was discovered over the course of the investigation that Shivakumar had been convicted of murder and had been given a life sentence. In 2015, he was released due to excellent behaviour.

At the time of the incident, Tikait was addressing the media in Bengaluru's Gandhi Bhavan. Tikait, a well-known spokesperson for the farmers' protests against the three problematic farm regulations that were abolished by the Union government as a result of the nearly one-year-long agitation. He is also the national spokesperson for the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU).