Seven arrested for firing at a truck driver with an airgun on Bengaluru-Mysuru road

Mandya police have arrested seven occupants of a SUV for allegedly firing at a truck driver on the service road of Bengaluru-Mysuru highway in the early hours of Thursday.

Superintendent of Mandya district police V. J. Shobha Rani said the incident took place when the accused were returning from a birthday party at a resort in an inebriated condition.

According to preliminary investigation, the occupants of the SUV were upset with the driver of the truck for not allowing their vehicle to overtake his and fired at him from an airgun for “fun”, said Ms. Shobha Rani.

The weapon, two carbon refill cartridges and the pellets used by the accused have also been seized and sent to the Forensic Sciences Laboratory (FSL) for examination. The SUV has also been seized.

The arrested have been identified as Rohan Gowda H. V., 23, Shashank, 25, Afan, 25, Mohammed Umar, 25, Nithin, 27, Mohammed Abubakar Sakalein, 25, and Sachin, 29, all from Mandya.

Truck driver Shankar, 40, who drives goods vehicles for a courier company based in Bengaluru, in his complaint to Mandya Rural police station, said he was driving a goods vehicle loaded with parcels for Mysuru in the early hours of Thursday when the incident took place.

“At around 4.50 a.m., after passing Amaravathi Hotel and while proceeding towards Mysuru on the Bengaluru-Mysuru road near a Bharat Petroleum fuel station in Mandya, a black SUV approached from the left side of his vehicle, honking continuously, overtook his vehicle and blocked its path,” the complaint said.

The complainant alleged that the occupants of the SUV abused him in foul language. The driver, while remaining seated inside the vehicle, allegedly pointed a weapon through the car window and fired a shot towards him, he alleged.

The complainant said there were about six to seven persons in the vehicle and they fled without stopping. The complainant drove to the courier office in Mysuru, unloaded the parcels and later approached the police to lodge the complaint.

Based on the complaint, Mandya Rural police station have registered a case under Sections 189 (2), 191(3), 352, 126 (2) and 190 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 27 (2) of the Arms Act, 1959, and took up investigation.

A special team headed by Mandya Rural Police Inspector Prakash B. S. managed to arrest the accused in the early hours of Friday.