BENGALURU: A road rage incident in east Bengaluru involving a biker and an Indian Air Force couple spiraled into a language controversy on Monday. The couple, consisting of Wing Commander Shiladitya Bose and his wife, alleged that they were verbally abused in Kannada before the situation turned physical. The wing commander, who was left bleeding, remarked, “This is what Karnataka has become…”
Wing Commander Bose shared a video on social media claiming he had remained calm and restrained during the attack. His post quickly sparked heated reactions online, with some netizens accusing Kannada-speaking locals of targeting outsiders. In an effort to address the situation, police arrested the biker, Vikas Kumar, who maintained that he was the one who had been brutally attacked, not the other way around.
CCTV footage from nearby cameras, however, contradicted Bose’s account. The footage showed Bose aggressively confronting Kumar and throwing him to the ground after a verbal altercation escalated into a physical fight.
Bengaluru East Deputy Commissioner of Police, D. Devaraj, clarified that the incident was not related to language or regional tensions. “This is a clear case of road rage, based on the facts and evidence gathered,” he said.
In her complaint, Bose’s wife, Madhumita Dutta, stated that she was driving her husband when a motorcycle, riding recklessly, nearly collided with their car. “The biker started abusing me and then attacked my husband repeatedly,” she alleged.
However, during police questioning, Kumar claimed that it was Bose who had assaulted him first.
