BENGALURU: A perfectly planned outing with a group of friends turned into a nightmare for a software professional after he was allegedly waylaid, assaulted, abused, kidnapped and robbed of

Rs 25,000 by a gang of cab drivers on Outer Ring Road near Mahadevpura on Sunday night.

Mr Alex Chacko, a resident of Brigade Metropolis in Mahadevpura and hailing from Salem in Tamil Nadu, was driving home alone on a Sunday night around 9.30 when the gang of cab drivers attacked him.

Mr Chacko told Deccan Chronicle, "I was driving from Indiranagar to Mahadevpura via K.R. Puram. It was raining heavily and the road was empty. As I crossed K.R. Puram, I saw in my rear view mirror that a white cab (Swift Dzire) was speeding towards my car. As I reached HP office near Shell petrol pump, the can overtook my car and slammed the brakes. By the time I realised what was happening, five people came out of the car and started threatening me. Though I was no at fault, I tried to negotiate. But two men held me from behind, while one of them took out wooden sticks and started raining blows on me. They took away my phone, wallet and car keys. While two men drove my car, the other three forcibly pushed into the backseat of their car. They drove about half-a-kilometer and reached an ATM.”

He said, “They dragged me into the kiosk, put the card into the machine and threatened me to punch in the password. They withdrew Rs 25,000 in three transactions. They immediately jumped into their car and sped away, leaving me completely traumatised and fearful for my life. I was still in shock when I reached home. But I gathered courage and filed a police complaint at around midnight."

Mr Chacko has stated in his complaint that the gang members were all in their early twenties.

Not an isolated incident

n This is not an isolated incident. Another IT professional and a resident of Brigade Metropolis, who was on his way home, was also waylaid in a similar manner in September 2015. A month ago, another IT professional, Anil Prasad, who works in Manyata Tech Park, had a narrow escape after a gang of four to five cab drivers in five cabs allegedly slammed their car brakes right in front of his vehicle. Anil, however, managed to escape.