BENGALURU: A gang of four 'journalists', who impersonated policemen and robbed commuters near highways to make a quick buck, are now cooling their heels behind bars. The Madanayakanahalli police, which busted the gang, have seized two cars, five two-wheelers, mobile phones, laptops and gold ornaments, worth Rs 9 lakh in total, from the accused.
The arrested have been identified as Hemanth V, a resident of Rajajinagar, Manoj B of Vaddarapalya, Lokesh M of Mudalapalya and Chetan R of Sunkadakatte. According to a senior police officer, the arrested used to work in a Bengaluru-based tabloid as reporters.
He said their modus operandi involved targeting people visiting temples near and robbing them in isolated places. The gang members used to stop the vehicles of people by posing as policemen and rob them at knifepoint. A total of eight such cases have been reported in the last couple of months. The
Madanayakanahalli police along with their Nelamangala counterparts had formed a special team to nab the gang. Following a tip-off, a police team began tracking and following the vehicles used by the accused. In this manner, the team managed to nab prime accused Hemanth red-handed.
When he was interrogated, he revealed the names of his three accomplices. All the four are said to have confessed to the police that they committed the robberies as they wanted to make quick and easy money.
In a couple of cases, the accused assaulted their victims and snatched their gold chains near Magadi. They often changed the vehicle numbers to mislead the police and stocked fake registration numbers which they put on the vehicles during robberies.