Prominent businessman Ekayuth Anchanbutr and five other men will be summonsed to answer charges over an assault on the manager and two other employees of a karaoke bar in Lat Phrao area early Wednesday morning, police said.
Pol Maj-Gen Naiyawat Padermchit, chief of the Metropolitan Police Division 4, said at a press conference at the Metropolitan Police headquarters that a summons would be issue for Mr Ekayuth and his colleagues to report to Chok Chai police to hear the charges on Dec 28.
Pol Lt-Gen Kamronwit Thoopkrachang, the Metropolitan Police chief, his deputies Pol Maj-Gen Anuchai Lekbambamrung and Pol Maj-Gen Adul Naronsak, and Pol Col Thanawat Wattanakul, the Chok Chai police chief, also attended the conference.
Pol Lt-Gen Kamronwit said police gave an assurance police would handle the case in a straightforward manner.
Pol Maj-Gen Naiyawat said that on Tuesday night Mr Ekayuth and five other men went into Karaoke City bar on Praditmantham road in Chok Chai area. They were in the shop from 8pm eating and drinking.
At about 12.30am they called for the bill, which was presented as being 38,895 baht. Since they had deposited 4,000 baht in advance, the shop asked for the outstanding amount of 34,895 baht.
One of the men in the group paid the bill with a credit card, but the first electronic card reader did not work and the shop asked them to pay in cash instead, which upset them. The bill was finally paid when the shop managed to find another card reader.
The six angry customers demanded to see Jatupol Mangkornthong, the shop deputy manager.
Mr Jatupol, 31, told police the men assaulted him when he showed up. They also hurt two female employees - Chula Kruewan, 34, the manager, and Fuengfa Kanthamoon, 27, the cashier - when they rushed in to stop them.
One of them threw a bottle of soft drink at the glass door of the cashier's room, causing about 10,000 baht damage, he said.
Mr Jatupol alleged that it was Mr Ekayuth who ordered the other men to beat him up. While leaving the shop, Mr Ekayuth fired five threatening shots into the sky from a gun, he said.
Pol Maj-Gen Naiyawat said apart from Mr Ekayuth, only one other man was identified, Suk-anant Panyavanichboborn. Police were still trying to identify the other men from the footage of a closed-circuit television camera.
Mr Ekayuth is a prominent real estate businessman who fled abroad after being a suspect in a pyramid share scheme. He returned to the country after the statute of limitations expired.
Known to be a staunch critic of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the Pheu Thai Party, Mr Ekayuth posted a message on his website criticising Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for her meeting with businessmen at the Four Seasons hotel earlier this year.