Exclusive: Cricketer Mohammed Shami attacked by local youths in Kolkata

Shami is a long time residence of the popular South Kolkata area and maintains a cordial relation with the neighbours. AFP Photo

New Delhi: A group of local youths tried to barge into Mohammed Shami’s residence in South Kolkata’s Katju Nagar following an argument with the India fast bowler’s driver. The incident occurred on Saturday night, when Shami and his wife were returning home. Shami’s driver was allegedly driving too fast through the narrow lanes and almost ended up colliding with a local youth’s motorcycle parked meters away from the paceman’s residence. This led to a heated argument between the youth and Shami’s driver. Seeing matters going out of hand, the Bengal spearhead stepped out of his car in an attempt to broker peace. The situation appeared to be under control after Shami’s interference and both parties retreated soon after. But the drama had only begun as the youth, who was identified as a barber gathered friends and arrived at Shami’s residence 15 minutes later in order to take revenge. The gang hurled abuses and also manhandled the gatekeeper, who tried to stop them from entering the apartment premises. Not able to break through, the gang fled. The whole incident was captured on CCTV camera. An FIR was lodged by Shami’s wife in the Jadavpur Police station later on. “Yes we have received a complaint from Mr. Mohammed Shami’s family. Immediate action was taken against the accused. Based on the CCTV footage we were able to arrest the biker and his gang on Sunday morning,” confirmed police to Wah Cricket. The accused gang was presented in front of the court on Monday. The 26-year-old is a long time resident of the popular South Kolkata area in Jadavpur and maintains a cordial relation with the neighbours. “He has been living here for a long time now. We never had any problems with him or his family. In fact, he does not behave like a celebrity at all. We often find him in front of the local chat centre. His daughter plays around in the park. So it is hard to believe something like this would happen to them,” said a source close to Shami’s family on assurance of anonymity. Interestingly, days before Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal was apparently forced to cut short his stint with English county club Essesx because of a racially-motivated hate crime against him and his wife. Shami would look to put all these behind him and make amends in the longest format of the game after being in and out of the Indian limited overs side. He would leave for Sri Lanka on Wednesday with the rest of Team India members. India is slated to play three Test matches, followed by a five-match ODI series and a one-off T20I against a struggling Sri Lankan side.