A 24-year-old man was allegedly heckled by a group of people for carrying a leather bag as they suspected it to be made of cow hide, police said today.
The incident took place on Friday in suburban Andheri when the victim, who identified himself as Barun Kashyap, was commuting to his workplace in an autorickshaw, whose driver started raising suspicion over his bag.
"I started off from my home to work in an auto. The auto driver was quite curious and intrigued by my long hair and nose piercing right from the beginning and asked me about my native place. He stopped at a traffic signal and started looking at my leather bag," Kashyap, who works as a creative director in a private firm, claimed in his Facebook post.
Kashyap, who hails from Assam, further said the auto driver then touched his bag and concluded that it was made of cow hide, a charge which he denied.
The youngster then clarified that the bag was made of camel leather, which he had bought from Pushkar.
"Not satisfied with the reply, the auto-driver moved forward and stopped the auto near a small temple on the way to my office. Before I could say anything, I saw the driver signalling at three men sitting in front of a temple, smoking," he said.
"The three men then approached the auto and started conversing in Marathi, which I could not decipher. They asked me to step out of the auto which I refused. When I was busy protesting, one of the men came to the other side of auto and started checking my bag."
"One of them asked my full name. He looked at the other two and said something in Marathi out of which I could only understand the word 'Brahmin'. Maybe hearing Kashyap, they thought I am a Brahmin and left the spot," he said.
Kashyap said he got off the three-wheeler at the next traffic signal and noted the auto number. He said he also asked the driver his phone number, "which he (driver) proudly gave to me saying 'aaj toh bach gaye'."
Kashyap said he then approached D N Nagar Police Station yesterday and filed a complaint against the suspected cow vigilantes (driver and three others).
A senior police official of D N Nagar Police Station said, "Since no physical harm was done to the complainant, we have registered a non cognisable offence. Further investigations into the matter are on.
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