Bangalore:
A sex worker who witnessed the stabbing of a constable and an army official on Sunday afternoon helped the police nab the culprits and crack the case within 24 hours.
RPF constable Ramachandra was stabbed at the central railway station around 3 pm on Sunday when he went to investigate two armed robbers on a woman's complaint.
Naik Navajitendra Singh, attached to the 21 Punjab regiment, was also stabbed by the goons when he tried to help Ramachandra. While Singh succumbed to his injuries before he could be taken to a hospital, Ramachandra is undergoing treatment.
Although the incident happened at a busy place in broad daylight, shopkeepers, vendors and others who witnessed the incident refused to identify the perpetrators.
That's when the sex worker, who had also witnessed the incident, came forward and provided details of the gang since the members were known to her, said Inspector Lokeshwar of the Upparpet police.
She also provided one of the gang members' cellphone number to the police, which they used to trace the culprits. Acting on the information, the police swung into action and nabbed two of the gang members who were taking shelter in Tulsi Park, a few yards away from the crime scene. Two other gang members, including a woman, were arrested later.
The gang members are Satish alias Kumar (23), a native of Coimbatore, Antony alias Guru (21), Kumar
Naika alias Pradeep (20) and Suma (25).
Satish and Pradeep were responsible for stabbing the constable and the army official. Satish had also sustained a knife injury in the scuffle.
He was caught by the police at the station itself, but they thought he was a member of the general public who was hurt and they allowed him to go get himself treated.
"Pradeep and Guru were arrested from Tulsi Park and they revealed the whereabouts of Satish and Suma during investigation. Suma, who is guru's girlfriend, was helping Satish get medical treatment," said Lokeshwar.
"She takes care of gang affairs like safeguarding the booty, getting them treatment and arranging for bail if they are caught."
The Upparpet police are now contemplating rewarding the sex worker, without whose help they would not have been able to apprehend the culprits so quickly, he added.