Five Bengaluru youths trek into trouble

The police official said they had recorded the statements, and the youths were being treated in a hospital.

Photo for representational purpose only.

A trip to the hill fort at Savandurga, near Magadi turned into a costly misadventure for five young men from Bengaluru on Sunday after villagers mistook them for cattle thieves, tied them to a pole and beat them up.

The unfortunate trippers have been identified as Amruth and Raghu, medical students; Vedamurthy, a law student; Krishna, an engineering student, and Srikanth, an engineering graduate working in a private firm.

The youth were sleeping in their SUV on the outskirts of Katukarapalya village, when some residents dragged them out of and took them to the village, where they were beaten up.

Caught unawares

While they tried to explain that they were trekkers, the residents were in no mood to listen, the police said, adding that the youth were beaten throughout the night.

It was only on Monday morning that the police reached the spot, and took the youth into custody for questioning. One of the youth, Krishna, said they had decided to stop the car and rest since it was late night, and the attack took them by surprise.

A police official told The Hindu that the residents claimed that the village had witnessed a number of cattle thefts in the recent days, and the thieves would latch the houses from outside and steal sheep, goats and cattle.

“They claimed that on Sunday too, two thieves on a bike attempted to steal sheep. Though the alert residents chased them, the thieves managed to escape. It was when they were looking for the thieves that they found the youth sleeping in the car, and mistook them to be part of the gang,” the official said.