Ex-BJP Union minister Anantkumar Hegde’s son gets relief from Karnataka HC in road rage assault case

“It is the contention of the learned counsel for petitioners that accused no.4 was arrayed as accused only after the chargesheet is filed. It is further submitted that perusal of Column 17 of the charge sheet does not make out any of the offences nor any specific role is assigned to accused no.4,” the high court observed.

The high court said the chargesheet contained no evidence-based allegation of the former MP’s son’s involvement in the road rage-linked assault. It observed that “there is a general observation that accused No.4 got down from the vehicle and encircled the car of the injured, no other overt act is attributed to the said accused”.

“It is clarified that the interim order that is passed for the present is as regards accused no.4 only,” the high court said.

‘Impediment to foreign education’

Incidentally, the former MP recently stated that the criminal case against Ashutosh had become an impediment to his son’s foreign education, following the surrender of his passport upon the filing of the chargesheet.

Anantkumar Hegde, his bodyguard Sridhar B T, and car driver Mahesh Raju Shetty were booked by the Dabaspet police in Bengaluru Rural district over a road rage incident that occurred on the outskirts of Bengaluru in June 2025.

The incident occurred when Hegde’s associates allegedly assaulted Saif Khan, 28, who was returning from a function with his family in an Innova.

According to the police, the confrontation began after Khan’s vehicle overtook Hegde’s Mahindra XUV multiple times on the highway near Dabaspet.

“The overtake game unfolded twice or thrice, and Hegde’s driver honked at Khan’s car, but the latter didn’t notice and kept driving,” the police said in June 2025. The situation escalated when Hegde’s driver honked and intercepted Khan’s vehicle near Dabaspet. The driver and gunman of the former MP allegedly assaulted Saif Khan and knocked out his teeth.

The driver and gunman of the former Union minister were arrested for the assault, while Hegde was summoned and interrogated by the police. The chargesheet was subsequently filed by the Dabaspet police against the former MP, his son, driver, and gunman.

The five-time former MP from Uttara Kannada, who was not given a BJP ticket for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls on account of a prolonged illness, has a reputation as a Hindutva poster boy in the communally polarised coastal Karnataka region, largely due to his communal politics, which is built on the othering of minorities.