Mysore/Mysuru: A house owner sustained injuries when two miscreants ran an auto over him when he tried to prevent them from stealing iron rods which was kept in front of the house.

The incident took place near R.T. Nagar Ring Road yesterday afternoon and the injured house owner was treated as an outpatient at a nearby private hospital.

The injured house owner is Balakrishna, a resident of Rabindranath Tagore Nagar (R.T. Nagar) in city. Balakrishna, who had constructed a house, had kept excess iron rods used for the construction in front of his house.

At about 1 pm, two persons, who came in an auto, saw the iron rods and began loading them into the auto. Balakrishna, who saw the thieves loading the iron rods through the window, began to shout at them.

Alarmed, the thieves started the auto and sped away from the spot.

Balakrishna, who began to chase them on his two-wheeler, tried to intercept the auto but lost control of the bike and fell down. The thieves then tried to run over him and it is learnt that the thieves ran over the auto on his legs. But Balakrishna somehow got up and caught one of the thieves tightly.

Meanwhile, passersby, who saw Balakrishna struggling, rushed to his help, caught hold of the thief, thrashed the thief and handed him (thief) over to the Police while the other thief fled from the spot after leaving the auto behind.

Kuvempunagar Inspector Shanmuga Varma and staff, who reached the spot, arrested the thief and seized the auto. A case has been registered and the Cops have launched a hunt to nab the absconding thief.

As there are only a few houses in R.T. Nagar and its surroundings, the Police have urged the residents to be very vigilant as thieves would be prowling to commit robberies.