Two highway robbers shot at and captured

Police shot and captured two highway robbers who were absconding after killing and setting fire to the body of a cab driver in Nelamangala on May 4.

Hemanth Sagar (23) and Vinod Kumar (24) — residents of Hebbagodi — stopped the cab of Kempegowda (30) on Saturday (May 4) and escaped after killing him and robbing him of his valuables.

The duo went underground after the murder.

The police surrounded the duo on Monday night after acting on a tip-off that the robbers were travelling on a two-wheeler from Sondekoppa.

The men abandoned the bike and ran into a residential layout.

Hemanth Sagar attacked sub-inspector M B Naveen Kumar who went to catch him. The two men also attacked other police officials.

The police shot them in the leg in self-defence and captured them when they collapsed.

Hemanth and Vinod said they met in prison and were recently released on bail. The duo began robbing people on highways.

On May 4, they hired the SUV belonging to Kempegowda a resident of Electronics City. They killed Kempegowda and set his body ablaze near Mallarabanawadi before escaping with the vehicle.

Kempegowda’s family filed a missing person’s complaint. Nelamangala Rural Police found a charred body on the outskirts and identified the body as that of the cab driver based on the description provided by the family. They also zeroed in on Hemanth and Vinod.

The duo were facing several cases of dacoity, robbery, attempt to murder and murder in Channapatna, Mandya, T Narasipur, Electronics City, Tavarekere and other police stations.

Superintendent of police Ram Niwas Sepat said they had multiple cases of robbery, extortion and even murder against them in various city police stations.