The city police have nabbed a ten-member gang of highway dacoits led by a woman in Mysuru, which had allegedly waylaid a businessman on the Ring Road and taken Rs. 16.75 lakh from him.
The gang leader Bhagya (34), who hails from Mandya district, had formed a gang comprising of local youth to rob B.H. Dwarkish, a resident of the city.
On December 22, 2016, when Dwarkish was heading towards Srirampura from Bandipalya on the Ring Road, he was allegedly waylaid by SUV with a woman and five men, four men on two motorcycles and a goods autorickshaw with five men. They reportedly threatened him with weapons and snatched the Rs. 16.75 lakh, all of which was in the new Rs. 2,000 notes.
Briefing reporters on Thursday, Police Commissioner Subramanyeshwara Rao said the case was registered and handed over to City Crime Branch (CCB), which successfully cracked the case by arresting ten of the accused. The CCB first intercepted a car coming from Kerala on January 5 and arrested Bhagya, besides her accomplices Madhusudan (22), Sharathkumar (27), Karthik (25), and Arjun (20), all from different parts of Mysuru. Based on the information provided by them, the CCB arrested five others – M.D. Ravikumar (28), Darshan N. (20), Manjunath R. (23), Satish (20), and B.C. Sunil (24) – from Galigara Hundi in Mysuru taluk.
The police managed to recover Rs. 5 lakh out of the Rs. 16.75 lakh. “They spent about Rs. 4 lakh and distributed the remaining among themselves. We are yet to arrest a few more accused and recover more money,” Mr Rao added. The police have also recovered the SUV and the weapons used.
The police said Ms. Bhagya had been involved in two more cases in Mysuru City. The Udayagiri police registered a case against her under the Arms Act for illegal possession of weapons while the Metagalli Police had booked her for assault using a knife and chilli powder.
