Singer Noble says he was 'assaulted' in a Bandarban hotel. But what really happened?

Singer Mainul Ahsan Noble has denied accusations of 'vandalising' a hotel door while holidaying in the hilly district of Bandarban and has instead claimed to be the victim of an assault.

A fracas had reportedly broken out at Hotel Garden City between the young artist and other guests in the early hours of Friday, with police later being called to defuse the situation.

Noble, who shot to fame through his appearance in the Indian television show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, checked into the residential hotel with friends on Aug 25 before leaving on Friday afternoon.

Mohammed Zafar, the hotel's owner, said, “He kicked down the door of a guest's room and broke its latch around 12:30 am. He was screaming at midnight and started pushing and shoving people out of excitement. ”

But Noble refuted all the allegations and said it was he and his friends who were on the receiving end of an attack that night by the 'owner's accomplices'.

The singer claimed he kept his composure throughout and even asked the owner for a resolution.

"I was sleeping at the time when some people came to my door and made unsavoury comments. They forced us to open the door at one point and as soon as we did, they snatched my mobile phones and smashed them. They physically assaulted us when we tried to protest. But the hotel authorities did not take any action.

"We are the victims in this case.”

Asked who carried out the attack, Noble said: "They are related to the hotel owner. I asked the owner if they are close to him. He said they are relatives of his in-laws.”

Owner Zafar, however, hit back at Noble for making "false allegations".

“He was a guest at our hotel so there's no question of him being attacked. He was the one who behaved rudely. Police were at the hotel later and if there had been such an incident, they'd have taken the assailants to the station.

"Nothing like that happened; These are false allegations.”

Zafar also denied allegations that Noble's mobile phones were destroyed during the altercation at the hotel. "They destroyed their own mobile phones and later demanded Tk 60,000 from me."

According to Zafar, Noble later left with a cheap handset from the hotel -- an allegation which the singer denied.

A unit of Bandarban Sadar Police went to Hotel Garden City after receiving a call on the emergency hotline 999 in the middle of the night, according to its OC Shahidul Islam Chowdhury.

Describing the events that unfolded there, OC Shahidul said, "We went there and saw that some guests had lined up on one side while Noble was on the other side. The owner of the hotel was trying to resolve the matter. But no settlement could be reached as there were now three groups."

"They later sought the police's help and we managed to calm all the parties down.”

On the allegations that the two sides levelled at each other, Shahidul said police did not find any truth in either party's claims.

"It's hard to believe that the owner will gang up with guests to attack another guest. The allegation that Noble went up to another guest and kicked him -- we didn't find any truth in that either."

"In tourist spots like this, guests can get a bit loud and the commotion could cause misunderstandings with guests next door. We don't know if there was anything more than that here."

Neither the hotel authorities nor Noble has lodged any complaint with the police, the OC said.

Noble left the hotel around 4 pm on Friday. He is now in Dhaka.

Despite claiming to be a "victim", Noble said he was not considering taking legal action against the hotel owner.

"I do not want to take this matter any further. I don't like trouble. I have lost two phones. I don't want so much hassle over the phones.”

Zafar, too, said he will not report any complaint against Noble, adding that the matter had been put to bed that night.