Express News Service By

BENGALURU: A late-night drive turned into a nightmare for five city youths as villagers mistook them for cattle thieves and gave them a thrashing.

Engineering student Prithvi Raj, law student Veda Murthy, engineer Srikanth, and medical students Raghu and Amruth had set out on Sunday for a drive to Savanadurga near Tumakuru. They visited Dodda Alada Mara (big banyan tree) en route, and were returning to Bengaluru when they lost their way.

It was 3.30am. They took a wrong turn near Magadi and headed towards Ramanagaram. When they stopped at a wayside shop, they were told they were at a village called Katukanapalya. They decided to park their Tata Safari and proceed in the morning.

“We had been up all night and were tired. We decided to stop and rest. Raghu and I went to a corner to urinate. All of a sudden, some people pounced on us and started beating us,” Prithvi Raj told Express.

The angry villagers, in no mood to listen to any explanation, herded the youths to the Ramanagaram Rural police station.

“At least 10 goats had gone missing in recent days. The villagers had been guarding the cattle in shifts through the night,” a policeman said. Also, rumours had been doing the rounds that a gang from the city was out stealing cattle.

Prithvi Raj said he and his friends would file a police complaint. “We will mention how our phones were snatched and our SUV was vandalised,” he said.

Savanadurga is a destination popular with trekkers from Bengaluru.