Four men came to estate near Siddapur looking for a lost cow

Siddapur: A group of dacoits barged into the house of a coffee planter in the guise of searching for a lost cow in Siddapur yesterday. In all, cash and valuables worth around Rs. 2 lakh were robbed after the planter was gagged and dumped inside a room of his house.

The incident occurred at Avaregunda near Siddapur in Kodagu district at 2.30 pm at the house of 60-year-old Mandepanda Chengappa. The planter was inside his house relaxing after lunch and he opened the door of his house as someone knocked on it.

As Chengappa opened the door, one of the dacoits told Chengappa that they had come there looking for a lost cow. The planter told them that he has not seen their cow. All of a sudden, the four men pushed Chengappa inside his house and latched the door.

A shocked Chengappa could not even fathom what was happening to him. Moreover, the planter’s house is located on the fringes of the forest, amidst a coffee estate. Even if the planter were to scream for help, none would have heard. Police said that the dacoits must have kept a watch on Chengappa, the location of his house and his routine before targeting him.

The four men then asked the planter to hand over cash to which Chengappa replied that there was no cash at home as the coffee crop was not sold. One of the dacoits flashed a knife and held it onto Chengappa’s throat and asked him not to move.

Meanwhile, the other three dacoits searched the house and opened the shelf where gold ornaments weighing 16 grams were kept along with a cash of Rs. 90,000. After putting the cash and valuables in a bag, the four men gagged Chengappa with a piece of cloth so that he cannot raise an alarm to alert the neighbours.  

They tied him up with a rope and bundled him into a room before leaving the place. Chengappa struggled for more than one hour to release the knots but in vain. The knots only loosened a bit and he managed to crawl to his neighbour Muthanna’s house, located at a distance.

Taken aback by his neighbour’s plight, Muthanna immediately released the knots and removed the stuffed cloth from his mouth. Chengappa narrated the incident to his neighbour and Muthanna alerted the  Siddapur Police.

Kodagu Superintendent of Police Captain Aiyappa, Inspector Mohan Raj and staff visited the crime scene. Dog squad and fingerprint experts were summoned and the investigation is on.