Men extort student of Rs 1.5k, feed him ‘toxin-laced’ drink in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: A 17-year-old boy, smoking near his college, was extorted of Rs 1,500 by men who pretended to be home guards. He was later assaulted and fed a drink, laced with a yet-to-be identified ‘poisonous’ substance.
The teen, Lohit (name changed), a resident of Nagawara and II PU student of a private college in Hennur, was admitted to ICU in a hospital and is recovering.
According to a complaint from the boy’s father to Banaswadi police, Lohit goes to a coaching centre on Kammanahalli Main Road every day between 5.30pm and 8.30pm. Lohit and one of his friends were smoking in front of a coffee shop near their college around 4pm on June 18, when two men approached them claiming to be home guards. They threatened Lohit and his friend that they would book a case against them for smoking in public, and complain to the college and parents.
The duo agreed to let them off if they paid Rs 1,500. Lohit called his mother and asked her to send the money to the coffee shop owner through a digital payment app, citing some emergency. The duo then collected the money and left.
The following day, the college management informed Lohit’s father about the incident. The father, a furniture businessman, enquired about the incident at the coffee shop and learned that one of the extortionists was called Manish. That night, Lohit returned home from tuition around 9.15pm and started throwing up. He told his parents that the two extortionists and two others had accosted him near Kalyan Nagar bus stop around 8.30pm The gang allegedly assaulted him and force-fed him a drink laced with poison.
When passersby rushed to the teen’s help, the attackers fled and Lohit returned home. His parents rushed him to Baptist Hospital and where he was admitted in ICU. When TOI contacted the father, he said Lohit was in the hospital for two days and is now recovering at home.
A senior cop said no arrests have been made yet. A case has been registered under IPC Sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc), and 384 (extortion).