A DMK functionary and store owner from Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari district has been arrested for assaulting Tamil and Malayalam author Jayamohan for a dispute over spoilt idli batter. The man, identified as Selvam, was reportedly held for assaulting the writer as well as verbally abusing his family on Friday. Jayamohan had purchased idli batter from Selvam’s shop and came home only to realise that the batter was spoilt. The writer returned to the store to complain about the batter when he was physically attacked by Selvam.
According to one report in The Hindu, the police said that a woman employee at the store refused to take the batter back from the author. Following this, Jayamohan reportedly flung the packets of batter at the shop. The escalation resulted in DMK functionary Selvam allegedly attacking the writer. On Friday evening, Selvam went to Jayamohan’s home and verbally assaulted him, his wife and his daughter, according to the police.
Speaking to a Tamil news channel, the writer said, “It was a packet of three-day-old, expired batter. My wife asked me to return it. I returned it to the woman at the store and told her it was three days old. I showed the packet to her, it said June 12. She said, ‘you only bought it.’ So I slammed the packets down and left. Her husband is the shop owner and was standing next to her. He had been drunk even before I went there and was involved in some brawls. I have come to know now that he generally has a criminal background.”
The writer, who is also well known for his work as a screenplay writer in Tamil cinema, was reportedly hit on the jaw and was admitted to the Government Hospital in Nagercoil. “He started hitting me and his friends were around so nobody came to help. Then my friends came and separated us. I couldn’t open my mouth and my arm is hurt so I’ve been admitted to the hospital. I’ve been given painkillers,” he said.
Following a police complaint from Jayamohan, Selvam was arrested and booked under the Indian Penal Code Section 294 (b) (uttering obscene words to verbally abuse), Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and Section 506 (2) (criminal intimidation).
Source: The News Minute