A robbery incident that was planned and executed in a cinematic manner, turned more dramatic as the vehicle used by the robbers to rob a house met with an accident, forcing them to leave the stolen valuables in the vehicle and flee from the spot.
A team of seven to nine robbers in the guise of income tax officials, gained entry into a house belonging to a coffee estate owner in Mudigere on Friday morning.
They tied the members of the house and decamped with valuables, but they were not lucky enough to rejoice with the valuables, as the vehicle they were traveling met with an accident at Raita Bhavan curve at Heechehalli.
According to police, the robbers who were speaking in Kannada, Telugu, Hindi and Tamil entered into a estate house at Heechahalli in their Tata Sumo at 6 am on Friday.
They introduced themselves as income tax officers and began ‘inspecting’ the house. They asked the house owner to show the valuable items for inspection purpose.
When the house owner opposed their act, they said that they were legally investigating his house, due to which the owner showed all the valuables at home to him.
The robbers immediately packed the items and decamped with money, gold, silver, bags with black pepper seeds and mobile phones of the house owner.
Soon after they left, the house owner called the police using a neighbour’s phone. Meanwhile, the Tata Sumo in which the robbers were travelling with robbed items, colluded with a car at Raita Bhavana curve, which is 15 kilo metre away from the estate. The car was travelling from Hosa Durga to Moodbidri.
Scared after the accident, the robbers who were wearing police trousers, fled from the spot. However, the villagers caught hold of one of the gang members Chatrapathi and when they examined the vehicle they found fake pistols, police uniform, shoes and some of the equipment used for robbery.
The villagers who grew suspicious immediately informed the police about the matter.
The police arranged for Nakabandi in all the routes that are the exit points of the taluk to nab the culprits.
Additional Superintendent of Police Sanjeev M Patil visited the spot for investigation. Finger print experts and dog squad too visited the spot. A case has been registered in Mudigere police station and the search is on for the robbers who have escaped after the accident.
Of the accused, a few are said to be from Holalkere is Chitradurga and a few are from Bangalore.
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