Mugging incidents along the Outer Ring Road-Sarjapur Road are back. The modus operandi is similar to earlier: Commuters driving alone in a car are stopped by con men on bikes. The men claim money on the pretext that the car has hit their bikes by showing their damages. They threaten the commuter (often these are residents of the Sarjapur Road area), damage the car and speak in loud voices in Kannada. They snatch the mobile. They persuade the victim to pay thousands of rupees for the “damages”, taking him to an ATM.

These incidents happened earlier mid 2010 and the HSR Layout Police had nabbed some culprits. They are now back. It also appears, again, that people not speaking the local language are being targeted.
Here’s the question to police commissioner Shankar Bidari and his colleagues at the HSR Layout police station: Mugging is condemnable, like all crime. But it does happen all over the world on lonely stretches at night. But what is worrisome that these incidents are happening in broad daylight at peak morning and evening hours on the busy outer ring road. Traffic cameras are installed at many intersections too.

The confidence with which the assailants are moving around is very troubling. Why are they recurring?

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