BENGALURU: A techie and his mother faced a harrowing experience as they were robbed by a cab driver and three of his associates after offering them a lift, in the early hours of Sunday.
Software engineer Pateel Veeresh (35), a resident of RR Layout in Nagadevanahalli, and his mother had reached the city from their native Davangere at 4.20 am. They were waiting for a bus at Goraguntepalya to go to their residence when a cab stopped near Veeresh. The cab driver asked him if both of them want a drop and the vehicle was heading towards Kengeri. The driver also said since it was a shared taxi, they can hitch a ride.
Veeresh didn’t suspect anything as he could see three ‘passengers’ in the cab. Then their nightmare began.
The driver drove towards Ullal on NICE Road, and on reaching Byrohalli after 20 minutes, he stopped the car in an isolated place close to the BDA apartments. Then the men sitting next to Veeresh and his mother pulled out weapons and asked them to part with their valuables. When Veeresh tried to object, the men assaulted him and threatened to kill his mother. Subdued, he requested the men not to harm his mother.
The miscreants then robbed the woman and son of a gold ring, a gold chain, Rs 2,000, a laptop and two bags containing clothes. Then they asked both of them to get down from the car and sped away.
In his complaint to the police, Veeresh stated that he was not able to note down the registration number of the car. The only clue he could give was that the car was grey in colour. He also told the police that the robbed valuables were worth `3 lakh. Later, he got treatment for his injuries.
An investigating officer said a case under IPC Section 397 (robbery or dacoity with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) has been registered and a team has been formed to nab the miscreants.
“We inspected the spot where the crime took place, but could not find any CCTV cameras nearby. We are analysing the CCTV camera footage from the spot where they got into the cab,” the officer said.