3 arrested for assaulting students who had hired car from rental firm

BENGALURU: Five students who had hired a car, were allegedly threatened for ransom and assaulted by a gang, including the car rental owner, in Chandra Layout, Bengaluru.

The accused, Nitin, Shashank and Vivek, had rented a car to the group of students to travel to Madikeri. Upon their return, Vinod, the car rental owner, and his associates Nitin and Shashank, threatened the students with a knife and assaulted them at their office in Nagarabhavi.

They claimed the students had exceeded the 100 kmph speed limit 120 times and demanded a fine of Rs 1.20 lakh. However, the gang failed to produce any challans to support their claims. The accused then took the students to a nearby mobile shop, forced them to transfer Rs 50,000 to their account, and dropped them back home at night, while keeping their laptops as collateral.

The students lodged a complaint with the Chandra Layout police, who arrested three of the accused.