BENGALURU: Two final year degree college students, one of them a girl, made an unsuccessful attempt to rob a 65-year-old woman by throwing chilli powder into her eyes. The incident took place when the victim, K T Gayathri, who stays in BHEL Officers Colony, was returning home after her morning walk in a park in front of her house in Nandini Layout. She noticed the accused duo standing next to a scooter at a distance and talking to each other.
“When the victim was walking past them, the girl from among the two accused, came from behind and threw chilli powder into the elderly woman’s eyes. The accused then tried to snatch her gold chain. The victim, however, managed to hold on to her gold chain and screamed for help. When a biker came to her rescue, the accused ran to her male accomplice and escaped along with him on a scooter,” said a police officer.
Investigations revealed that the duo had obtained a loan through an instant loan app to invest in online trading. After suffering losses in trading, the two were unable to repay the loan. They had even borrowed money from some friends. As the pressure to clear the loan mounted, the two decided to rob the old woman. Police said executives from the instant loan app from where the two had taken the loan were pressuring them to repay the amount.
The police zeroed in on the scooter’s registration number through CCTV footage in the vicinity and nabbed the two. The incident took place last Saturday between 10.15 am and 10.30 am in front of BHEL Officer’s Colony on 25th Main Road in Nandini Layout. A case of attempt to commit robbery under Section 393 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against both the accused who have been remanded to judicial custody. Nandini Layout police have registered a case.