Pandavapura: Miscreants, who tried to loot a jeweller by waylaying the car, were caught by alert villagers, who tied them to a tree and thrashed them till the Police arrived and arrested them. The incident took place at Bannaghatta village in the taluk yesterday morning.

The miscreants, who were caught by villagers and arrested by the Police, have been identified as 35-year-old Ranjith and 35-year-old Nisad of Kerala. They had tried to loot Maharashtra-based jeweller Bajali by waylaying his car near the village.

Details: Balaji, who was on his way to Mysuru, was carrying cash in the car to conduct gold business. Four miscreants, who were following Balaji in another car, waylaid his car when it reached a deserted place near Bannaghatta village, assaulted Balaji and his driver Shivaraj with lethal weapons and tried to loot the cash during which Shivaraj screamed for help.

Villagers, who heard Shivaraj’s screams, rushed towards the car and began pelting stones on the miscreants, resulting in two of the fur miscreants escaping from the spot in the car, while the villagers caught hold of two others. The villagers then tied the two miscreants to a tree and beat them black and blue.

Circle Inspector Vivek, Sub-Inspector Manjunath and staff, who rushed to the spot, seized a revolver and lethal weapons from the miscreants besides arresting them.

The two miscreants, who were injured when the villagers thrashed them and the injured Balaji and Shivaraj have been admitted to the General Hospital in the town.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Yatish, ASP Venugopal, Dy.SP Sandesh Kumar visited the spot,  conducted an inspection and also collected information from the injured Balaji, Shivaraj and the two miscreants.

Pandavapura Police, who have registered a case, have launched a hunt to nab two others, who had fled from the spot, when the villagers rushed to the aid of Balaji.