Bengaluru: 26-year-old techie riding solo waylaid, assaulted on Hosur Road

BENGALURU: Are you a bicycle enthusiast? Planning an early morning solo ride on Hosur Road? Beware! You could be the next target. A 26-year-old techie and a bicycle enthusiast got allegedly waylaid, assaulted and robbed of his cash by some unidentified miscreants early Saturday.

The victim, identified as Lentin Varghese, had gone on an early morning SAMBAR (Saturday Morning Breakfast Ride) ride on his bicycle. When he reached Electronics City some unidentified miscreants struck and robbed him of his valuables.

Lentin told this newspaper, “Around 3.30 am I left for my SAMBAR ride from my home to Hosur Road. As I crossed PES College of Engineering and peddled a little further, a red colour car began following me. First time, they tried to stop me. But, I did not stop. I overtook them from the other side and pedalled on. They then followed and intercepted me.”

He was then approached by two men. “They told me to hand over all the valuables and I quietly complied. Then, the man on the driving seat came out and punched on my nose, without any provocation. The situation would have gotten worse if one of his associate had not intervened and taken him away. The man who punched me was drunk. They fled with two mobile phones, Rs 330 in cash, spare cycle tube, puncture kit and cycling helmet.”

A shell shocked Lentin pointed that the stretch was being used by many cyclists daily. “Targeting a cyclist is easy, as they cannot speed away, which makes them vulnerable to such incidents. Cyclists should avoid riding alone on such stretches, as what happened to me today can happen to anyone tomorrow. The police should step up patrolling on such stretches during early morning hours,” he added. The victim is yet to file a police complaint in this regard.