DIBBURAHALLI (CHIKKABALLAPURA): A 34-year-old yoga teacher's mastery over breathing control techniques let her clutch on to life after she was abducted from near Devanahalli, taken to a forest about 30km away, stripped, molested, and strangled by her kidnappers.
In the incident, which took place on Oct 23, as the victim feigned death, her abductors, assuming their job was done, dug up a pit, dumped her in it, and in a hurry spread only a thin layer of earth over it, before escaping with whatever jewellery she had on her. The woman, Tamannah (name changed), managed to wriggle out of the pit, borrow clothes from people nearby and got herself admitted to a govt hospital in Sidlaghatta, Chikkaballapur, a day later.
Police have arrested four men, a woman, and a juvenile. According to police sources, the yoga teacher was abducted at the behest of Bindu, 27, the arrested woman.
Sources said Bindu was suspicious of her husband Santosh Kumar's proximity to Tamannah and told her friend Satish Reddy, who operated a private detective agency in Bengaluru, to run a check on the woman.
Satish allegedly befriended Tamannah under the pretext of learning yoga from her. On Oct 23, he went to her house around 10.30am and told her to accompany him for a rifle-shooting session near her house. While she was in his car, three more men and a boy got into the vehicle. The group then drove straight to a forested area in Dhanamittenahalli, Sidlaghatta taluk. They threatened the woman, disrobed and molested her. They then tried to strangle her with a cable.
Tamannah later told the police her presence of mind and ability to hold her breath as part of yoga techniques saved her life. As she collapsed to the ground, the abductors assumed she was dead.
Besides Bindu, police have arrested Satish Reddy (40), Ramana (34), Nagendra Reddy (35), Ravichandra (27), and the minor boy.
Satish, Ramana, and Nagendra are from Andhra Pradesh, while Ravichandra and the boy are from Raichur district. The accused were arrested from different locations in Karnataka.