Puttur, Apr 12, 2016: An incident wherein a family travelling from Bengaluru to Mangaluru was robbed by a gang of highway robbers at Shiradi Ghat on National Highway 75 has taken place on the night of April 11, Monday. Meanwhile, the locals managed to chase the robbers and trap one of them while the others escaped. The robbers have even abandoned their Scorpio vehicle.
It is learnt vehicular traffic on the Ghat section was disrupted for nearly two hours after the locals in their bid to trap the thieves blocked the road by parking a bus across the road.
The incident took place at around 11.15 pm when a Chevrolet Tavera car (KA 19 C8064) carrying a family based abroad, which was returning to Mangaluru after visiting Bengaluru for some medical treatment, was intercepted by the thieves who came by a red Mahindra Scorpio vehicle near an isolate spot close by Gundia border. The thieves tried to escape after robbing cash and gold by throwing chilly powder and attacking them.
Locals who came to know about this, tried to stop the thieves who took a turn near the border gate at Gundia, in the process injuring a few who were waiting there. Once the vehicle reached the temple near Shiradi border, the thieves abandoned their vehicle and fled.
The one person whom locals managed to arrest has been identified as Basavaraja Reddy from Chintamani. Irate locals even damaged the Scorpio vehicle of the thieves.