Highwaymen on NICE robbery prowl

Highwaymen on NICE robbery prowl
DH News Service, Bangalore:
It was a NICE, albeit criminal, way to make a fast buck. A gang of highwaymen who picked an unilluminated stretch of the NICE Peripheral Ring Road near Andrahalli to rob motorists of their money and other valuables, has been cracked.

Two members of the gang have been picked up, while a hunt is on for three others.

The highwaymen lingered around a bridge on the NICE road stretch after the dark.

A couple of them would wait atop the bridge and hurl huge stones on two-wheelers and cars passing under.
When the motorists stopped, the remaining gang-members would pounce on them and forcibly rob them of their money and belongings at knifepoint.

Though the gang was operating for a few days now, not even a single complaint reached the police. The gang, apparently, was well versed with the movements of highway patrol vehicles.

Heinous ways
However, the heinous ways of the gang came to light on Friday night when mechanic B C Girish (25) was grievously injured by a stone thrown by the gang.

Girish, a resident of Manjunathnagar, was heading home from his Peenya workplace at around 9 pm on a bike, with his colleague Manjunath, a resident of Kamalanagar, on pillion.“When we were passing under the Andrahalli bridge a huge stone hit the bike.”

Girish did not stop the bike. After a few seconds, another stone hit him in the chest. He screamed in pain. I immediately got into the driver’s seat and drove on. Girish, on pillion, slumped on my back. I rode straight to Sarvodaya Hospital on Magadi Road,” Manjunath told Deccan Herald.

With a major rib fracture, Girish is now in ICU and his condition is said to be critical.

Chandre Gowda, Girish father said: “It’s ridiculous. We don't know whom to approach and under whose jurisdiction this stretch falls. I can't even afford to pay the medical bills. Girish is the family’s sole bread winner and today he is battling for life.”

Five cases
Nelamangala police, meanwhile, confirmed that five cases of robbery have been reported from the Andrahalli stretch of the NICE road on Friday night