<![CDATA[The Kumaraswamy Layout police rescued a 24-year-old school van driver who was abducted by a gang of five persons, who planned to bury him alive in a graveyard at Muniswamappapalya on Friday night. The accused — Murali, Jeeva, Muthu, and Arjun — were riding two scooters on ISRO Layout main road, when one of the two-wheelers collided with a school van that Praveen was driving. As the men began arguing, Praveen abused them, asked them to follow traffic rules, and immediately alerted the van owner about the accident. Enraged, two men climbed into the van, overpowered the driver and drove off to Muniswamappapalya graveyard in Kumaraswamy Layout. The two other accomplices followed the van. “One of their friends who were not with them was a minor boy who had relatives which worked in the graveyard as caretakers,” the police told. Once they reached the graveyard, they assaulted the school van driver Praveen and started digging a grave as they had planned to bury him alive. “The van owner who had overheard the conversation during the fight, realised that the men were planning to abduct Praveen, and alerted the police,” a police officer told. The police rushed to the spot, and started searching for the gang. Police inspector Mr.V.M. Guruprasad instructed his men to search the graveyard. Within an hour, the police zeroed in on the accused. Mr. Guruprasad told “It was a sheer luck that we rescued Praveen in the nick of time,”. Four, including the minor boy, were rounded up by the police, while a fifth associate was later picked up by their Thalaghattapura counterparts in a robbery case.]]>
