Bengaluru: Techie abducted for 3.5 hours, robbed of Rs 4,400 at knifepoint

BENGALURU: A software engineer was allegedly abducted in a minibus for more than three and a half hours and made to withdraw Rs 4,400 from an ATM. The miscreants also stole his cellphone before he managed to give them the slip in south Bengaluru on Friday night. The two abductors have been arrested.
Satish N, 37, a resident of Banashankari II Stage and employee of Dell International Services, Whitefield, usually parks his scooter near Devegowda Petrol Bunk, from where he boards an office cab to go to work.
On Friday too, he did the same. After returning from work, Satish met his friend Mahesh near the petrol bunk at 9pm. The duo left for a friend's place near Katriguppe for dinner. Around 12.20am, they returned and found Satish's scooter key missing. The duo began walking towards Katriguppe signal to reach Devegowda Petrol Bunk when a minibus stopped and its driver offered them a lift. The duo boarded the vehicle. When the truck reached the petrol bunk, Mahesh alighted and walked towards an ATM to withdraw money while Satish remained in the bus and was chatting with the driver and another person in the vehicle.
However, the bus began m oving and the duo threatened to kill Satish at knifepoint. They drove towards Sarakki signal and later towards Talaghattapura on Kanakapura Main Road. They took him to two ATM kiosks to withdraw money from his account, but both didn't have cash. The irked abductors began talking about killing Satish.
When Satish pleaded for his life saying he has a child, the accused took him to an ATM kiosk in Khodays Factory and got him to withdraw Rs 4,400. They also sent an SMS to his wife, asking her for money.
After about three and a half hours, the minibus reached Devegowda Petrol Bunk and stopped for a while. The accused were discussing where to abandon Satish when he managed to escape from the vehicle. Realising Satish had fled, the abductors sped away.
Though the accused claimed he was abducted and assaulted, police registered a case under IPC section 394 (voluntarily hurting while committing robbery). Based on the vehicle's registration number, police arrested Deepak, 25, a murder accused, and Prashanth, 29.