Two of the gang members, who were detained in a murder case, revealed their involvement in robberies

The Bangalore police have solved a murder case and several cases of robbery with the arrest of a four-member gang, who were operating across the city.

HSR Layout police identified the accused as Satish (20), Shankar (21), Muruga (26) and Ranga (24), arrested for the alleged murder of Nazar (23), on January 20.

The accused persons were members of a gang of seven, headed by Satish, a cab driver. While the four were involved in the murder, two others, Manikanta and Madhu, were involved in an attempt to murder, and several cases of robbery.

The accused, all cab drivers from Tamil Nadu, used to offer drops to people at nights. Midway during the drive, they would threaten the victims at knifepoint and rob their valuables, including ATM cards. The gang used to strike between 8 pm and 10 pm, police said.

After taking away the valuables, the accused used to strip their victims to their briefs. "They would then push the victims out of the car and force them to run, while they give a chase. This was to prevent the victims from noting down their car registration number,'' said LY Rajesh, inspector, HSR Layout.

Rajesh said that after the murder of Nazar, the investigating team started rounding-up suspects. "During investigation, HAL police arrested Satish and Shankar. They revealed that they were part of a gang that operated across the city. The two led us to others. While Muruga and Ranga were involved in the murder, Manikanta and Madhu were involved in dacoity cases,'' he said.

On February 12, Pradeep Kumar Sahu (30), a software engineer was also victimized in the same manner. The gang offered him a drop at 10.15 pm, when he was waiting for a bus near the ring road. They offered to drop him off at the Silk Board junction. When the car reached New Harijan College, they stripped him of his valuables and cloths, before throwing him out of the vehicle.

During investigation, police found that the accused persons had committed nine robberies in HAL, HSR Layout, KR Puram, Koramangala and Electronic City.

Police have recovered gold jewellery valued at Rs1.5 lakh and mobile phones from their possession.

Nazar, a native of Muzaffar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, was stabbed to death on January 20 night near the Belandur Ring Road in HSR Layout. The accused stabbed him because Nazar refused to part with his mobile phone.

Soumya Menon/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication