×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Army man loses Rs 1.5L after lending phone to pepper-spraying African

Last Updated 07 June 2020, 22:06 IST

An act of kindness boomeranged on an army officer from Tamil Nadu. Lending his mobile phone to a burly African man so that he could make an emergency call proved costly for the 27-year-old soldier. The foreigner pepper-sprayed him and robbed him of Rs 1.5 lakh in cash.

Prabhakaran, a native of Kalaiyar Kovil, Sivaganga district, Tamil Nadu, had come to Bengaluru to pick up a friend named Manikantan, who works for a private company in Bengaluru. Prabhakaran is posted in Jammu and had come to his hometown just four days ago on leave.

He drove to Bengaluru on June 4 to pick up his friend who wanted to travel to his native Madurai to be with his wife who's in an advanced stage of pregnancy.

They met in Kalyan Nagar, East Bengaluru. After some time, they decided to go to a restaurant for dinner. Around 7.45 pm, as they were near BDC Hospital on 5th Main Road, 2nd Block in Kalyan Nagar, a heavily-built African man, aged about 30, walked up to him.

"I had seen him watching us for almost half-an-hour. He walked up to us and gave his name as Danis," Prabhakaran recounted to DH.

The African requested for his phone, saying he wants to make an emergency call. Prabhakaran said he asked the man why needed his phone. "I asked him why he was he was watching us and demanded to see his ID. He said he had forgotten it at home."

Prabhakaran nonetheless decided to lend him the phone. Danis made a couple of calls but while returning the phone, he quickly pepper-sprayed Prabhakaran on the face and snatched his handbag. When Manikantan tried to stop him, he attacked him as well as Prabhakaran, and ran away.

It took Prabhakaran a while to regain his senses. He dialled the two numbers that the African had called from his phone. The numbers rang for almost an hour before the phone switched off. By then, Prabhakaran had gone to the cops but said his complaint wasn't taken seriously.

According to Prabhakaran, he had brought the cash from Jammu because he didn't want to take any health risk by visiting the bank or the ATM. He carried the bag all the time.

Police have registered a case of theft and cheating. "We have got some leads about the suspect. A CCTV camera near the spot has caught his movements. We are actively looking out for him," he added.

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 07 June 2020, 19:56 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT