Lokesh Bangari, a sitting member of the Chikkabanavara Gram Panchayat was among the five suspects arrested by the police.
A Bharatiya Janata Party member is among the five accused in the mob attack on the Tanzanian woman, reports The Hindustan Times.
The young woman was allegedly stripped, assaulted and paraded naked last week by a mob.
Lokesh Bangari, a sitting BJP member of the Chikkabanavara Gram Panchayat was among the five suspects arrested by the police. The other suspects are Venkatesh, Salim Pasha, Bhanuprakash and Rahmatullah - who are members of a pro Kannada organisation, says the report.
Kabeer Ahmed, Bangari's colleague from the same panchayat confirmed the arrest but said that Bangari was innocent. “His ID card was lying on the road where the attack happened. He was an innocent bystander and actually wanted to help the victims but the crowd was too angry and strong. In the mêlée, he lost his wallet and ID cards,” he said.
Meanwhile, a team of External Affairs Ministry and High Commissioner of Tanzania will visit the city on Friday to take stock of the situation. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj took a high level meeting yesterday in view of the incident which was attended by the Foreign Secretary, following which she sought a detailed report from Commissioner of City, Bengaluru on the incident. Expressing regret over the incident, External Affairs Ministry official spokesperson Vikas Swarup assured necessary legal action against the culprits.
The Home Ministry has sought a report from the Karnataka government over the incident. It has also sought details of steps taken for the protection of the victim. Five people have been arrested so far in connection with assault on Tanzanian female student. Tanzanian High Commissioner John WH Kijazi earlier said that 'mob justice' and 'racism' led to the unfortunate incident.
He, however, acknowledged the fact that authorities were showing great concern over the unfortunate incident and have given assurance that justice would be done.
The Tanzanian student was beaten and then stripped by a group of locals in Bengaluru after they assumed she was part of an incident in which a Sudanese man had run over a local woman. The incident took place on Hesaraghatta Road in Bengaluru on Saturday night after a Sudanese national ran his car over a 35-year-old woman resulting in on the spot death of the woman.
The Tanzanian student was travelling in another car, a Wagon-R, along with four others. The young woman, who arrived on the spot around 30 minutes later, was dragged out of the car and paraded naked after being stripped by the mob.
The victim told the police in her complaint that when she tried to get on a bus in order to escape the assault, people on the bus pushed her back towards the mob.
With agency inputs.
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