The owner of Sri Paandi Restaurant in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, is perplexed by media reports which reported that the men who thrashed his shop on Monday had claimed to be members of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).

At a press conference today, R Velokrishnan, 44, said he was shocked when he read several major dailies claiming Hindraf members had ate at his restaurant for two consecutive days and left without paying.

"We never said the attack was by Hindraf members. Nowhere is this mentioned in our police report. I don't know how the press got wind of this.

"We only want to know who those people were and why were they attacked my workers. That is all. We are only asking for the police to investigate this.

"We did not call the press. All I know is that I woke up this morning and got a shock when I saw the news. We received so many calls. This is affecting our business," he added.

According to the police report, some 10 Indian men ate at the restaurant on Sunday at 3pm and started to cause a scene before it was resolved by the branch manager, M Thomas ( photo ).

The following day, the same men had dinner and asked for the owner before taking out steel pipes to beat two workers and smashed up the restaurant.

The attack lasted several minutes before the men fled in two cars. Thomas filed a report with the Brickfields police headquarters later that night.

Velokrishnan said he has clarified the matter with Hindraf legal adviser P Uthayakumar and blamed the press for misleading the public.

Responding to a question, Velokrishnan said that he would not take any legal action against the press.

The incident was reported in almost all major dailies, with the focus being on the allegation that the attackers were Hindraf members.

Petition not faxed

In an unrelated matter, Hindraf today denied that its petition to the Queen of England had been faxed to the British High Commission.

"(The petition at all times) was in the possession of our legal adviser Uthayakumar who was from 7.30am onwards on Nov 25 held back by the police warnings, the police tear gas firings and police water cannon shootings near KLCC.

"Please take note that the whole of the local print and electronic media reports never stated which Hindraf leader confirmed that the said petition was faxed to the British High Commission. This is because there was none," said the organisation in a statement.

Hindraf also took a swipe at Cheras police chief Ahmad Amir Mohd Hashim for acting as the organisation's 'spokesperson'.

"The only person who confirmed that Hindraf had faxed their petition to the British High Commission (to the press) was Ahmad Amir.

"We cannot remember issuing a Hindraf membership card to him. Since when has the Cheras district police chief been the spokesperson for Hindraf?"

The petition is in relation to a class-action suit filed by Hindraf against the British government for bringing Indians to Malaysia as indentured labourers and exploiting them for 150 years.

A total of US$4 trillion (RM14 trillion) is being sought or US$2 million for every Indian residing in Malaysia.

Inpector-general of police Musa Hassan was also reportedly said that no tear gas or chemical-laced water was used in breaking up a crowd of 1,000 protesters in the Batu Caves temple in the early hours of Nov 25.

However, the police later conceded that both tear gas and chemical-laced water were used but stressed that they did not fire into the temple.

Moreover, the temple committee also rebutted media reports that the crowd had damaged the various temples in the Batu Caves complex.