Three men sent to jail for attacking Bengaluru cops with machete 7 years ago

A Bengaluru court on Monday handed down jail sentences to three men who attacked a police team that tried to arrest them in 2019. The police shot one of them in the leg during the encounter. Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge Rashmi M convicted Goutham, Prashanth Singh alias Andu, and Salman Khan—who had been wanted in an attempted murder case when they attacked personnel from the Yeshwanthpur police station with a machete.

The court sentenced Goutham to seven years’ imprisonment and Prashanth and Salman to six months in prison. However, Goutham has already spent six years in jail without bail. Prashanth and Salman, sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, have already spent five years and nine months in jail, respectively.

According to the prosecution, a police team went to Pipeline Road behind the Platinum City apartment complex in the early hours of January 27, 2019, on receiving a tip-off that the men wanted in a case from the previous month were there.

The court found that when the police approached, the men shouted that the officers were "Yeshwanthpur police" and threatened to kill them, brandishing the machete. As two constables moved to catch Goutham, he struck them on their hands with the weapon, injuring both.

Police Inspector Y Mudduraja fired a warning shot in the air and, when the assault continued, shot Goutham in the leg. The other two fled the scene. Goutham was taken to hospital for treatment of his gunshot wound. The court also rejected the men’s argument that a nearby apartment's security guard and CCTV footage were never examined, noting that nothing suggested the cameras would have covered the actual spot of the incident.

The judgment leaned on the testimony of the two injured constables. The court said, "It is pertinent to note that the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the testimony of an injured witness carries a 'built-in guarantee' of presence and truthfulness, and cannot be discarded except for compelling reasons."