Date:22/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/04/22/stories/2007042219140500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Handbag snatched

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: A motorcyclist snatched a handbag containing Rs. 3,000 from another rider who had stopped at a traffic signal near the crowded Banashankari temple on Saturday.

The police said that around 11.30 a.m. Avinash, a cloth merchant, had stopped his motorcycle near the Banashankari temple junction when a man riding a motorcycle, with a boy as pillion, came from behind, snatched Avinash's bag and sped away, jumping the signal. The Banashankari police have registered a case.

Arrested

The South division police on Friday arrested two youths who had allegedly blackmailed a businessman and fleeced him of Rs. 6 lakh.

The police gave the names of the arrested as Nagaraj (25) and Praveen (26), both residents of Attur Layout in Yelahanka.

The police said that two years ago, the duo had taken out Ramesh Kumar of 3rd Stage, Banashankari, for a drink.

Later, they had taken nude pictures of an inebriated Kumar. T

hey blackmailed him that they would get these pictures published in newspapers and forced him to pay them Rs. 6 lakh. When they demanded another Rs. 5 lakh, Kumar lodged a complaint with the police on Friday.

Bus torched

People set fire to a mini bus which fell into an open drain off Hosur Road in Singasandra on Saturday injuring six persons.

The bus carrying employees of a garment factory fell into the drain when the driver lost control while avoiding a vehicle coming from the opposite side. People who alleged reckless driving by the mini bus driver set fire to it.