Police bust treasure-hunting gang; rescue boy from being buried

Mysuru: A group of people were arrested by the Nanjangud Police last night for trying to bury a 10-year-old boy to unearth a treasure. The accused are now being interrogated at an undisclosed location. The exact number of people arrested has not been revealed by the Police. The incident occurred at Nerale village on the Hemmaragala Main Road in the fields of one Shivappa alias Anand and the main accused is Shivappa’s son Sudheendra alias Sudheer who wanted to take out the treasure. The accused had dug a pit to bury the boy before performing certain rituals. Observing the rituals, a person who owned the neighbouring plot tipped off the Police who caught the accused as they were preparing to bury the boy. Police said that other accused are Madesha, son of Raju Master of Hedathale village, priest Suraju from Konanakunte in Bengaluru, Ravindra and Shivappa from Sullia town in Dakshina Kannada, Padmanabha of Puttur town in Dakshina Kannada and Suresh of Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh. Police said that the boy’s father has been identified as Ravindra.