NEW DELHI: A dispute over a gym operating from a residential property allegedly escalated into a violent assault in east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar recently when a man was beaten up, his wife was said to be molested, and their son was stripped and assaulted on the street.According to police, the complainant owns a house in Laxmi Nagar and runs a gym in its basement. The gym’s caretaker allegedly cheated him and attempted to take over the business, leading to a dispute. He alleged that on Jan 2, he and his wife were about to go to the basement to check a water leakage when the caretaker, accompanied by several men, arrived and started a quarrel. An argument broke out, during which the men punched and kicked him. His wife was molested during the confrontation, the complainant claimed.When the couple’s son came out after hearing the commotion, the men allegedly caught hold of him, dragged him out onto the street, stripped him and beat him up publicly. The incident was captured on CCTV cameras, which police have seized. Police said the CCTV footage showed the alleged assault and was being examined to establish the sequence of events. The footage, which was widely circulated on social media, the accused men could be seen physically assaulting a man who was naked and kicked repeatedly by a group of four-five men. They stopped only after police reached the spot. The caretaker has been arrested while three others are on the run.The complainant later told mediapersons, “On Jan 2, around 3-3.30pm, I was standing outside when they pushed me and started beating me. They tore my clothes and kept punching me in the face.” He claimed that his son was assaulted and left lying on the road. “My son’s wedding is in 10 days. He was badly beaten up. I saw him lying on the road.”The man said both his sons had left home after the incident and switched off their mobile phones. “We don’t know where they are.” His wife alleged that by the time she ran to the police station and got help, his son was already taken to the middle of the road and assaulted. “The way he was stripped and dragged, is this less than any form of rape?”A case was registered at Laxmi Nagar police station under various Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) provisions, including voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful restraint, criminal trespass, assault or use of criminal force to outrage the modesty of a woman, acts intended to insult a woman’s modesty and criminal intimidation.