Bengaluru: They were a group of friends on a late night drive out of the city. But what transpired next on the Mysuru-Bengaluru highway left the four, who included two girls, petrified. Waylaid by a gang wielding daggers and a baton, they were robbed of their money and mobile phones while returning from a café at 3 am in the morning on May 3.
Locals, who arrived on the spot , and helped them get home, say the gang has been on the prowl for a while. It is known to stage an accident and engage its victims in an altercation, while its members come up from behind armed with a machete and daggers to rob them, they reveal.
The police too are aware of the robberies that have left many motorists afraid to take to the highway of late and claims it has stepped up patrolling on it. But this did not help the group of four friends who headed out for a drive to Rasta Café on the Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway in Mayaganahalli in Ramanagar after a hard day’s work.
Recalls one of the boys in the group, Rohan (name changed), “After a tiring day at work I thought of going for a night drive with my friends to Rasta café on Mysuru Road. We hit the road at 11:45pm on May 3 completely unaware of what was lying ahead.”
When the friends stopped for refreshments after Kengeri, they saw some men nearby having a good time, but ignored them and reached the cafe by 1:15 am. Some snacks later they headed back at 3 am and had travelled just 5 kms from Rasta Café when they noticed a car behind flashing its headlights at them.
“My friend who was behind the wheels noticed a black car following us. Seeing the headlights flash, we thought it wanted to overtake us and so gave it right of way, but the minute we did that the car came to our right and the men inside began waving their hands out of the window, asking us to stop. Since there was some technical problem with our car we thought they were trying to warn us and stopped on the side of the road,” recounts Rohan.
But that was the biggest mistake they could have made as the gang stopped their car in front of theirs, and four men emerged from its rear. “We realized something was amiss and tried to get away but it was too late as two of the men came charging at us, claiming we had hit their car. We tried to reason with them, but one of the men took away our car keys and began to shout at us, while other gang members began to beat us up while the girls remained in the car,” says Rohan, adding, "After head-butting me, one guy hit me with the baton on my head. The other two attacked my friend with the dagger but he escaped with only a minor cut.”
The gang later fled after robbing the friends of their money, mobile phones and car keys. Luckily a few locals came to their rescue soon afterwards. “As we regained our senses and got into our car we realised that the goons had taken our key. But fortunately, two locals from Ramanagar came in a motorcycle and brought a mechanic who helped us to start our car,” Rohan adds. Going by the locals, the particular stretch has seen many such incidents of late and they believe the gang members are from Ramanagar.
