Scratch your back and lose money: new robbery trick

Robbery gangs are coming up with ingenious ways of targeting people. The latest trick of their trade is spraying itching powder on gullible victims and making off with the booty.

Two men lost Rs 3.4 lakh in separate incidents in two different corners of Bengaluru on December 13 and 14.

Hanuman Singh, a 56-year-old businessman, withdrew Rs 3 lakh from Syndicate Bank in Rajarajeshwari Nagar and kept the money in the boot space of his scooter. He then headed to Best Club, Rajarajeshwari Nagar, to hand over the money to a friend as part of a business deal. But on the way, he noticed that the front tyre of his scooter was deflated. He took the two-wheeler to a garage for repair.

Three unidentified men also arrived at the garage and moved around aimlessly. A short while later, Singh felt his neck was badly itching. The sensation only grew stronger and he had to rush to a hospital, leaving the scooter at the garage.

Singh called his wife to the hospital and asked her to get the cash bag from the scooter. She went to the garage and was shocked to see the bag missing.

Singh has filed a complaint at the Rajarajeshwari Nagar police station. He suspects that the trio had sprayed some itching powder onto his skin and escaped with the money once he went to the hospital.

In Jeeva Bima Nagar, Abdul Hafeez, a 75-year-old retired government employee from Whitefield, lost Rs 40,000 while going home after withdrawing the money from a State Bank of India branch.

He, too, had kept the cash bag in the boot space of his scooter. He felt an itching sensation after reaching the HAL hospital on Suranjandas Road. Finding the itching unbearable, he parked the scooter by the road and dashed to an isolated place. He quickly took off his shirt, dusted it and put it back. When he returned to the scooter after some time, he found the boot space open and the bag missing. Not just cash, his pension book, passbook and chequebook were also missing. He has filed a complaint at the HAL police station. Police believe a single gang is involved in both the incidents.