Mounesh Vishwakarma
Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal (SP)

Bantwal, Aug 8: In a daylight robbery which took place near Lord Ananteshwara temple, Vittal, an unidentified robber sprayed chilly powder into the eyes of an areca nut merchant from Vittal. In a hurry to snatch away the moneybag from the hands of the merchant, the robber fled with a bag containing tiffin box, and must be cursing himself now for this grave error.

Manoor Jagadish Kamath has his business concern on Palace Road, Vittal. He goes to Vittal from his residence in the town in a Qualis vehicle along with brother, Vittaldas Kamath. Normally he parks his vehicle near Lord Ananteshwara Temple, as there no enough space for parking inside the town.

Jagadish Kamath said that on Friday, he saw on the way, that a Maruti 800 car was closely following him since sometime. When he deviated from main road and turned the car away towards the temple at Bobbekery, the car tried to overtake his vehicle, perhaps sensing a good opportunity as it is a deserted spot. Having failed to overtake there, the car followed Kamath, and as soon as Kamath parked his car and alighted from it near the temple, a person got down from the other car, sprayed chilly powder at his eyes all of a sudden, and snatched away the tiffin box. Kamath, who raised an alarm, saw that there were four persons inside the car.

Actually the moneybag was with Vittaldas Kamath, who ran into the temple with it the moment he saw his brother being attacked. As such, an attempted robbery failed to materialize. The brothers could not fully note down the registration number of the car in question. A case was registered in Vittal police station relating to this incident.

This robbery attempt, which occurred in broad daylight, has sent jitters down the other merchants, who normally transact in heavy amounts of cash.