Want to relieve yourself on NICE Road at night? Beware -- you will be relieved of your valuables

Think twice before pulling in at the side of NICE Road to relieve yourself. A gang of masked robbers could be lurking around to target you.

At least two car drivers are reported to have been robbed by the gang over the past week, police said.

A plumbing contractor and his two friends were robbed when they pulled in to relieve themselves on NICE Road on February 4, police said.

Manu, a 30-year-old resident of Attibele, was travelling to Dharmasthala with his friends Pradeep and Shashi. They stopped under the Begur Koppa Road bridge near Yelenahalli around 1.30 am to attend to the nature's call before resuming the journey. Pradeep was at the wheel.

Four masked men riding two motorcycles (a Bajaj Pulsar and a KTM Duke) intercepted their car a short while later. Before Manu and his friends could react, the gang smashed the car's windscreen and the bonnet with a machete. They also broke the left side glass. The gang asked the trio not to retaliate. One of the robbers then held the machete to Manu's neck and demanded money.

A frightened Manu asked the robbers to spare their lives and gave them Rs 32,000. The robbers then pounced on Pradeep and snatched Rs 12,000 from his wallet. They later saw Manu wearing a gold chain and robbed it too. The chain weighed 34 gram.

Shashi, who was in the rear seat, got out of the car and ran to get help from the toll security. He returned with the guards after some time, but the robbers had ridden off towards Bannerghatta Road.

A similar robbery was reported on January 31 when H Manjunath, a 25-year-old lorry driver from Madanayakanahalli, was robbed near the Ramasandra bridge. Minutes after Manjunath pulled in to relieve himself around 12.15 am, four masked men surrounded him and hit him on the head with a stone. They eventually robbed him of Rs 2,000, a mobile phone and headphones.

NICE Road patrolmen saw Manjunath profusely bleeding and took him to hospital. He later told the police that two of the robbers were addressed as Rajesha and Guru.

Two separate cases of robbery with an attempt to cause death and grievous hurt have been registered at the Hulimavu and Jnanabarathi police stations.