Belagavi: In a shocking incident, two youths were stripped and mercilessly beaten up in an isolated house allegedly by a Belagavi (Rural) BJP MLA’s right hand aide, ‘for being a witness to a inter-faith marriage’.

The incident reportedly took place on Sunday, November 2. However, the video went viral only on November 14.

According to the visuals, a man identified as Suresh Gatige was mercilessly thrashing two youngsters with a hockey stick. The two were made to strip and were assaulted with the wooden stick on their hands, legs and private parts.

Gatige, said to be a close aide of the BJP MLA Sanjay Patil was allegedly assaulting the two for supporting his relative’s inter-faith marriage. He thrashed both of them on their legs, hands and private parts so brutally that a part of the hockey was also broken. Both the victims are said to be the natives of Kolhapur district of Maharashtra.

However, the police were reluctant to file case against Gatige, since the incident took place on the border of Karnataka and Maharashtra. It’s learnt that when one of the victim’s father approached a police station in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, the cops refused to file the case claiming the incident took place in a house in Karnataka.

Its only on November 10, when the wounded youths met Bhaskar Rao, DIG, North Division with the video footage, the case was take seriously. The police arrested Suresh Gatige along with four others.

DIG Rao personally visited the house where the incident took place, which falls under Kakathi police station limits. It’s a clear violation of human rights, he told the media.