Lecturer robbed of Rs 16K in Paytm cash in moving cab

A 38-year-old college lecturer has complained to the police that a cab driver and three of his friends robbed him of Rs 16,000 in Paytm cash in a moving taxi on October 21.

Around 4.40 pm, Santhosh, who teaches at a fashion design institute, was near his home in Kempegowda Layout waiting to book a taxi when a cab driver approached him.

The cabbie told him that he needed just another booking to complete the daily quota of rides and requested him to get on his cab. Santhosh got into the cab but was surprised to see another passenger inside. He thought they were car-pooling and didn’t protest.

The cab took a right turn and pulled in at a gym some distance away. Two more men boarded the cab. A while later, all the four men started beating Santhosh even as the cab kept moving.

The cab moved from a service road near Krishna Bhavan to NH-4 towards Goraguntepalaya before turning towards Nelamangala. It later took a U-turn to proceed towards Peenya, HMT Ground, Jalahalli and BEL Circle.

Meantime, the men snatched Santhosh’s mobile phone which had dual SIM cards. Using both the phone numbers, they installed Paytm and opened two accounts.

“They forced him to transfer money from his two bank accounts (SBI and Canara Bank) to his Paytm accounts from which they transferred the money to their PayTM accounts,” Santhosh’s brother Govardhan told DH. In the process, they transferred nearly Rs 16,000 in Paytm cash and also snatched Rs 200 in cash.

The men didn’t stop at that. They also took away his SIM cards, deleted all the messages and returned the phone before dumping him near Lumbini Gardens close to Nagawara around 8.30 pm, Govardhan added.

Santhosh later went to the Mahalakshmi Layout police station and filed a complaint. Police said they had taken up a case. Preliminary investigation shows that the kidnappers knew Santhosh, but he has denied it.

DH News Service