A businessman lost 25 pairs of his pigeons as a gang took the birds away in a late-night raid on his farmhouse last week.
G M Aravinda, who is in the oil trade, overpowered one of the men near Dommasandra Main Road, held him at gunpoint and handed him over to the Varthur police. Three members of the gang are in police custody.
On March 8, around 1 am, Aravinda received a call from Madesha, who runs a fireworks store near the farmhouse, about “some noise” in his compound.
Aravinda came out of his house with his licensed double-barrel gun and found a man wearing a cap behind his farmhouse.
With Madesha, he chased the intruder and found four men jumping over his compound wall and running away. Aravinda returned to the front yard to find the pigeon cage almost empty, with only two newborn chicks left.
Aravinda and Madesha found two motorbikes parked some distance from the house. A man they spotted claimed that he was a goods vehicle driver and his vehicle had broken down.
“I knew he was part of the gang. I fired once in the air and went near him,” Aravinda said.
As Aravinda finished calling the Hoysala police, six or seven men hiding in the bushes came out, pushed him and Madesha aside and fled on their motorbikes.
Aravinda chased the intruders and caught one of them. “I had him at gunpoint till the Hoysala police arrived,” Aravinda said.
Daughter misses her pets
Aravinda told DH that his daughter, a Class 7 student, is keen to visit the police station and request the police to get the pigeons back.
A friend, who breeds pigeons, had gifted two rare breed pairs to his daughter.
“We had 25 pairs of pigeons, all because of her. The pigeons were used for racing. One pigeon escaped from the gang and came back to our house. My daughter pacifies the chicks every day, and has almost stopped eating,” Aravinda said.
In 2001, Aravinda rescued a jeweller from a mugger attack. He opened fire in the air and chased away the muggers who attacked the jeweller in front of his house.
H T Sangliana, the then city police commissioner, had given him a letter of appreciation.