A Yoga teacher in Karnataka applied her Yoga skills to save herself from certain death after she was beaten up, strangled and then buried in the ground by a group of attackers.

Yoga helps its practitioners to build a stronger body and mind, and it can also save your life in a near-fatal situation and virtually bring you back from the brink of death. One such case has recently came to the fore from Karnataka, where a 34-year-old Yoga teacher applied her Yoga skills to save herself from certain death after she was beaten up, strangled and then buried in the ground by a group of attackers.

According to reports, the incident took place on October 23 on the outskirts of Karnataka’s Chikkaballapur city when five people, including a woman, took the victim to a secluded spot on the city’s outskirts, where they stripped her naked, assaulted her, and strangled her.

However, despite the mortal danger, the victim kept her wits and fooled the assailants by faking her death by using breathing techniques used in Yoga meditation. Presuming she was dead, the accused then buried her in a pit and left the spot. Later, the woman said some villagers helped her to crawl out of the pit and also gave her some clothes, following which she approached the police.

A senior police official said five people, including a woman identified as Bindu and her friend named Satish Reddy who runs a detective agency in Bengaluru, have been arrested in connection with the incident.

Citing the woman’s complaint, the official said that Reddy had befriended the victim three months ago on the pretext of taking Yoga classes from her.

On October 23, Reddy showed up at her house near Dibburahalli and convinced her to accompany him on a tour of the city in his car. However, when the victim got in the car, three other men were already present the vehicle. The four accused forcibly took her to a secluded spot on the outskirts of the city, where thy allegedly stripped and assaulted her.

Giving details, the officer said the accused woman, Bindu, suspected that her husband was having an affair with the Yoga teacher and asked her friend, Satish Reddy to to keep a tab on the victim and her proximity to him. “As part of the plan, Reddy allegedly befriended the victim some three months ago on the pretext of taking Yoga classes from her and during this period, he managed to gain her confidence,” the officer revealed.

In her complaint, the victim alleged that the accused took her to a secluded spot on the outskirts of the city where she was thrashed, threatened and strangled using a cable. She claimed that she played along, pretended to be unconscious and faked her death using breathing techniques.

Later, she managed to wriggle out of the pit and with the help of some villagers, got clothes and managed to reach the police station to file a complaint, the woman claimed.

“Assuming the woman died, the accused allegedly dug a pit and covered her body with thin layers of soil because they were in a hurry and feared to be caught. But before leaving, they took away all her gold jewellery,” police said, adding that the woman has been sent a medical examination and admitted to a hospital.

Based on her complaint, a case was registered under sections of kidnapping, attempt to murder and other appropriate sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), leading to the arrest of five people, including Reddy and Bindu, on November 6, they said.

An official said the vehicle in which the victim was kidnapped was allegedly stolen from Bengaluru, police said, adding, the victim’s jewellery has also been recovered with the arrests.

“We are trying to verify all the claims made by the victim. There were also some online money transactions between Bindu and the associates and we are investigating the money trail also,” he added.