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3 Kargil-bound army officers assaulted

Michael Gonsalves in Pune

An irate mob has beaten up three young army officers at Mobo's hotel in Pune on Friday morning following their alleged altercation with a couple.

The injured army officers from the National Defence Academy - Lieutenant Avinish Chambial, 22, from Himachal Pradesh, Lieutenant Ashok Pangal, 23, from Haryana, and Lieutenant Samir Ramthirthkar, 22, from Pune -- were to dump their baggage in Pune and board a train for Kargil.

The officers were returning to Pune after their six-month training at Infantry College of Combat in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh.

While Lieutenant Ramthirthkar, who was hit with a stone, received two stitches on his head, Lieutenant Chambial and Lieutenant Pangal were treated for bruises and cuts at the government-run Sassoon hospital and discharged.

The army officers and the couple -- Pradeep Garathkar, 33, former Indapur Municipal Council president, and his wife Anuradha, 28 -- have filed separate complaints with the Mangaldas police station.

Trouble began when the officers and the couple, who were travelling in a Indore-Pune bus, had an altercation over the manner of reclining seats.

Lieutenant Chambial said Anuradha threatened them with dire consequences.

At Pune, a mob waiting near Mobo's hotel charged menacingly towards the officers and began to assault them.

"Even as we showed our identity cards and pleaded with the mob to take us to the police, they just would not listen to us. Everybody began to shower blows on us," Lieutenant Pangal said.

Later, Major A R Hiremath of the Military Police said, "We have got the statement of the two who bashed up the officers. We have already initiated an investigation."

He said the couple ''had charged that the officers molested the woman''.

In her statement to the police, Anuradha charged that one of the officers 'held her shoulder' and she screamed. With her husband shouting, an altercation followed.

She futher said, "When my husband got down from the bus at Mobo's hotel and when I began collecting my bags in the bus, one of the officers caught hold of my hands and I screamed."

The army officers have denied her charge, saying, "it is a blatant lie. "

Brigadier Madan Gopal, Pune Sub-Area Commander, describing the incident as most 'unfortunate', said no one should take the law into one's hand.

The police have registered cases against the three officers under sections 354, 323 and 504 of the Indian Penal Code. They also filed cases of rioting against Pradeep, Narayan Kedari, Shivaji Chawan besides 50 unidentified persons.

They were detained and released on bail by the police.

The Kargil Crisis

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