Robbers tortured a truck driver and smashed his legs with a hammer for misleading them when they wanted him to show his owner's house which they wanted to rob.
Though the driver did not report the incident, confessions by a recently arrested gang of robbers prompted the Anekal police to track down 28-year-old Jagadish from his native place where he was getting treated for his injuries.
The Anekal police arrested the 10-member gang that robbed truck drivers along Chandapura Main Road on the city's outskirts. The cops persuaded the driver to file a complaint.
Jagadish stated in the complaint that the gang — armed with lethal weapons and travelling by a stolen Maruti Swift DZire — waylaid him along Attibele Main Road as he was returning home after transporting some goods on April 11.
They snatched his mobile phone, a silver bracelet, a wallet and a speaker kept in the truck's glove compartment and asked Rs 50,000 for his release. Jagadish told them that the payment for the latest trip was wired directly to the owner, following which the gang asked him to drive them to his owner's house by his truck.
While the driver ferried the men to the neighbourhood in Anekal where his owner lived, he showed them a different house. The gang learnt that he had lied when checking the house. The infuriated gang members took Jagadish to an isolated spot, stripped him and thrashed him with the lethal weapons in their possession. They even smashed his legs with a hammer.
After torturing him for six hours, the gang dumped Jagadish on the main road, warning that they would kill him if he informed anyone about the incident.
A badly injured Jagadish called his owner Srinivas Reddy and returned home without filing a police complaint. But police tracked him down, took a complaint and booked the gang for robbery, assault and attempted murder. They took the gang members into custody for further interrogation.