BENGALURU: Four unidentified miscreants, alleged recovery agents of a private money-lending company, waylaid a Kerala-bound private bus posing as policemen and hijacked it on Friday night.
They drove the bus with 42 passengers to a godown on the pretext of conducting a check and illegally detained the passengers for hours near RV College in RR Nagar police limits.
One of the alert passengers dialled 100 seeking help and RR Nagar police landed at the spot.
But by the time they arrived, the miscreants had fled. The police, however, have detained security guards at the godown and are questioning them to establish their role in the hijacking.
The bus, belonging to Lama Travels (KA01, AG636), left Kalasipalyam around 9.45 pm and was headed to Kerala.
Before it crossed the city, four miscreants on two bikes waylaid the bus on Mysuru Road near RV College. The driver got down and enquired with the fake policemen, who told him that they were part of a special election squad to check transportation of illegal cash, jewelry and goodies and wanted to check the bags of the passengers.
The driver obliged and let the miscreants in. But instead of checking the bags, they took over the bus and drove it to the godown. There they told the passengers that the bus was not going anywhere and locked the godown, the police said.
The shocked passengers then threatened to call the police, but the miscreants refused to budge.
A passenger informed the police about the incident, following which the RR Nagar police rushed and rescued the passengers.
DCP (West) Ravi D. Channannavar told Deccan Chronicle that the miscreants fled before the police arrived at the spot. “We suspect them to be recovery agents of a private money-lending company. We have detained the security guards of the godown to check whether they were involved. We will soon arrest the culprits,” he said.
A case has been registered at the RR Nagar Police Station under Section 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code.
