Date:06/05/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/05/06/stories/2005050618640300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Two waylaid, robbed of cash, electronic gadgets

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: Two men, including a software engineer, were waylaid and robbed of cash and electronic gadgets worth Rs. 1 lakh by armed men in as many incidents on Wednesday. An alert public and the police caught some of the culprits.

The police said that around 8.30 p.m. Mohammed Amir Khan, a software engineer with a company in Electronics City, got off a bus at HSR Layout. As he was walking towards his house in Sector 6 of the layout, two armed men waylaid him and threatened him with a knife and robbed him of a laptop and a mobile phone, together worth Rs. 1 lakh, the police said. The Madivala Police have registered a case.

In the second incident, around 9.30 p.m. three men waylaid D.N. Kusumakara, an employee of a courier agency in Sampangiramnagar, when he was walking on Kempe Gowda Road, off Banappa Park. They put a knife to his neck, relieved him of Rs. 700 in cash and a mobile phone and fled. As Kusumakara raised an alarm, an alert public chased the robbers, caught one of the three, Shiva (29) of Shivajinagar, and thrashed him. As Shiva has suffered severe injuries, the police have admitted him in Victoria Hospital. The Ulsoor Gate Police have registered a case and are on the lookout for Shiva's accomplices.

Auto forcibly driven away

In another incident, reported from the Banashankari Police Station limits, around 9.30 p.m. eight men who arrived in an autorickshaw stopped another autorickshaw on the Ring Road in 3rd Stage, Banashankari. They threatened the driver, Nawab, with a sword, the police said.

As Nawab and the passengers of the autorickshaw ran for cover, three of the eight men drove away Nawab's autorickshaw.

Nawab informed the policemen who were checking vehicles at some distance and gave them the registration number of his vehicle.

After a message was flashed on the wireless, the Chamarajpet Police, who were checking vehicles on Mysore Road, intercepted Nawab's autorickshaw and arrested the three men.

Two members of the gang who had escaped in another autorickshaw were caught by the Banashankari Police near Food World in 3rd Stage, Banashankari, the police said.

The police gave the names of the arrested persons as Sreekanteshwara (19), son of a police constable and a resident of CAR Quarters on Mysore Road, Munna (20) of Avalahalli, Mohan Rao (22) of Byatarayanapura, Shivashankar (20) of Hale- guddadhahalli and Shivaji (24) of Thimmasandra.

The police have seized the two autorickshaws and some lethal weapons from them.

The Banashankari Police are on the lookout for the three others.