MAPUSA
Spazio Leisure Resort, Anjuna, where the Delhi-based tourists were assaulted, on Wednesday, said that the guests/tourists misbehaved with the hotel staff after they were ticked off for violating the hotel no smoking policy by the swimming pool.
The resort in a two-page statement signed by the owner also said that no local gangs had gathered outside the hotel and no swords were used in the fight.
According to the statement, the guest Ashwani Kumar and his family members who had checked in on March 5 were requested by the hotel staff multiple times to stop smoking hookah by the pool, upon which the guests verbally abused the hotel staff with derogatory expletives.
“Jatin Sharma (a guest member) even manhandled a hotel staff member by pushing him around and threatened that he leave the hotel immediately or else they would claim for full refund for spoiling their holiday mood,” the owner said, requesting anonymity for safety reasons.
The staff member was later told by the hotel supervisor to remain off duty for some period to diffuse the tension.
However, late in the evening the staff member along with his brother returned to the hotel site to collect his mobile charger he had forgotten and had remained on the public road outside the hotel.
As the staff member was waiting outside the resort, Ashwani Kumar went out and picked up a quarrel with the staff and his brother and even started clicking photos and verbally abusing the boys.
“Jatin Sharma along with his other family members pushed the hotel staff member which has been captured on the CCTV camera footage and handed over to the Anjuna Police,” the owner said.
“Eyewitnesses on the public road saw Jatin Sharma and his group thrashing the hotel staff member on the roadside gutter by hitting him with stones and punches. On witnessing this brutality, many of our hotel staff members and locals intervened to stop the fight but to no avail. It ended with both parties suffering injuries,” the owner added.
The statement also stressed that the management and staff of Spazio Leisure Resort intervened at all stages to stop the argument over no smoking hotel policy to avoid blowing it into a full-fledged fight.
“Many of our hotel staff members tried to diffuse the fight on the public road by holding back the parties involved. The management also called the Anjuna Police on the site,” the statement read.
The resort owner also said that post the incident, Spazio Leisure Resort management and staff have been receiving abusive threat calls from anonymous callers and unknown numbers which have been reported to the police.
