Man heckled on suspicion of carrying bag made of cow hide

Mumbai, Aug 21 (PTI) A 24-year-old man was allegedlyheckled by a group of people for carrying a leather bag asthey suspected it to be made of cow hide, police said today. The incident took place on Friday in suburban Andheriwhen the victim, who identified himself as Barun Kashyap, wascommuting to his workplace in an autorickshaw, whose driverstarted raising suspicion over his bag. "I started off from my home to work in an auto. The autodriver was quite curious and intrigued by my long hair andnose piercing right from the beginning and asked me about mynative place. He stopped at a traffic signal and startedlooking at my leather bag," Kashyap, who works as a creativedirector in a private firm, claimed in his Facebook post. Kashyap, who hails from Assam, further said the autodriver then touched his bag and concluded that it was made ofcow hide, a charge which he denied. The youngster then clarified that the bag was made ofcamel leather, which he had bought from Pushkar. "Not satisfied with the reply, the auto-driver movedforward and stopped the auto near a small temple on the way tomy office. Before I could say anything, I saw the driversignalling at three men sitting in front of a temple,smoking," he said. "The three men then approached the auto and startedconversing in Marathi, which I could not decipher. They askedme to step out of the auto which I refused. When I was busyprotesting, one of the men came to the other side of auto andstarted checking my bag." "One of them asked my full name. He looked at the othertwo and said something in Marathi out of which I could onlyunderstand the word ‘Brahmin’. Maybe hearing Kashyap, theythought I am a Brahmin and left the spot," he said. Kashyap said he got off the three-wheeler at the nexttraffic signal and noted the auto number. He said he alsoasked the driver his phone number, "which he (driver) proudlygave to me saying ‘aaj toh bach gaye’." Kashyap said he then approached D N Nagar Police Stationyesterday and filed a complaint against the suspected cowvigilantes (driver and three others). A senior police official of D N Nagar Police Stationsaid, "Since no physical harm was done to the complainant, wehave registered a non cognisable offence. Furtherinvestigations into the matter are on." PTI AVI ARS DKDV