Gang of six robs college student, plants ganja in his bike

Bengaluru, DHNS (no byline)

Bengaluru: Soladevanahalli police in northern Bengaluru arrested six people for accosting a college student, threatening him and robbing him.

According to the police, the incident occurred on June 2 when the BTech student in his early 20s was returning to Rajanakunte via Soladevanahalli after eating lunch with his friends at a dhaba in Hesaraghatta. The victim alleged that he was waylaid by unknown people.

Police officials said that the five to six people who were at the spot placed ganja on the victim’s motorcycle, videographed it, beat him up and took the gold chain he was wearing and Rs 20,000 in cash. They also demanded Rs 10 lakh to delete the video and as a cost to repair their bike which they claimed was damaged by some of the victim’s friends.

Scared, the victim agreed to pay Rs 7 lakh. Police said that the suspects obtained Rs 50,000 in cash after pledging the victim’s Royal Enfield motorcycle. They then threatened him of consequences if he failed to pay the rest.

After a complaint was registered, Soladevanahalli police arrested six suspects, who are currently in judicial custody. During the interrogation, police found that two of the suspects, who were from Andhra Pradesh, went to the same college as the suspect and had planned the crime.

Officials said that another key suspect, who is a known rowdy, was at large. From the arrested, police recovered Rs 18,500 in cash and mobile phones. They also impounded a passenger auto rickshaw, two Royal Enfield bikes and a Mahindra XUV car. Further probe is on, they said.

The arrested are Gopi Chand, Sharath, Manjunath, Chetan Gowda, Chetan Kumar and Tejdeep Reddy.