In high drama that unfolded during broad daylight in Dharwad on Thursday, five of the six members of the notorious Irani gang managed to escape from the clutches of Bengaluru police after attacking and injuring them.
Even as onlookers watched, the men wanted by the Bengaluru police in various theft cases managed to give the policemen the slip after attacking them with beer bottles near Hanuman temple on Line Bazar Road. Two policemen who tried to catch hold of them sustained injuries. While five gangsters escaped, the police managed to overpower the sixth identified as Bilal.
On being alerted, Assistant Commissioner of Police G. Anusha rushed to the spot. A hunt has been launched to nab the five who escaped.
A four-member team from Vijayanagar police station in Bengaluru had come to Dharwad in search of six persons of the Irani gang, for their involvement in various theft cases reported in Kamakshipalya and Magagd Road in Bengaluru.
The Bengaluru police had reportedly tracked their cell phone numbers and finally found them sitting at a tea shop near Hanuman temple. Although the police managed to nab them initially, the offenders offered stiff resistance and subsequently one of them pushed the policemen to the ground and then started beating them up before escaping from the scene. The Bengaluru police had reportedly not sought any assistance from the local police, , sources said.
The policemen who sustained injuries are being treated at a private hospital in Hubballi.
