Overview
- Sameer Mulla, 23, was taken by a group and beaten in Hubballi on Friday after questions over his ties to a young woman, and he is being treated at KIMS Hospital.
- City Police Commissioner N. Shashikumar called it a personal dispute rather than 'love jihad' and said police have opened a criminal inquiry with no formal complaints yet.
- Members of Hindu organisations detained the youth and handed him to Old Hubballi police, then rallied outside the station with hundreds demanding action.
- Families offered clashing accounts, with the sister describing a three-year consensual relationship and the girl's mother alleging harassment and even 'hypnotism', while a video reported by The Hindu shows the girl accusing the youth of drugging her.
- Police reported injuries on both sides and visited the hospital as they investigate, a sensitive task in a city still on edge after a 2024 campus stabbing that fueled similar claims.