Bengaluru City Police

On August 10th, 2012, an elderly couple’s decomposed bodies were found in JP Nagar 1st phase, who were murdered three days earlier. July 4th, 60-year-old Lakshmidevamma’s head was bludgeoned to death at her house on 5th Cross, Prakashnagar. Continuing this there have been several other cases of abuse, assault or murder in city against elderly people. Sonia Narang, DCP, Bangalore -South. Pic courtesy: DCP Office IPS officer Sonia Narang, Deputy Commissioner of Police(South)-Bangalore, is known for her tough stance against crime spoke to Citizen Matters  about ways to keep elderly safe at home. Excerpts:Can you suggest some basic steps for…

Rajvir P Sharma, the man who dared to take action against BBMP engineers for their inaction against building violations, has been transferred out of Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF). J D Madhuchandra Tejaswi, Under Secretary to government, DPAR (Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms) services, sent the transfer order to Sharma. ADGP Rajvir Sharma. Pic: Sankar C G According to the order, Dr P Ravindranath will assume charge as Inspector General of Police (IGP), BMTF, with immediate effect.  Ravindranath is an IPS officer of the 1989 batch of the Karnataka Cadre. He had been serving as IGP, Excise Enforcement.ADGP Rajvir…

When Dr S C Sharma, 45, resident of Jayanagar 4th Block filed a complaint with the Bengaluru Metropolitan Task Force against a BBMP engineer who was allowing an illegal building to stand, he did not know that by sheer coincidence, engineers were going to revolt against BMTF police head Rajvir Sharma, an office of the rank of Assistant Director General of Police (ADGP).The particular illegal building was constructed in 1992.  The RTI record, which Citizen Matters has received from Sharma shows that BBMP (then BMP) has sanctioned a two storey building in 1992. But the owner has constructed a five…

On July 31st, Seema (name changed) was attacked by the driver of the auto in which she was travelling. Seema's fault was that she took a picture of the number plate of the auto so as to file a complaint against the overcharging driver. The incident occurred in front of Eva Mall in Brigade road.In the Facebook page of Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP), Seema wrote that the driver had asked for Rs 60 to travel from Eva Mall to Austin Town, while the actual fare would be around Rs 20. The incident happened at 7 pm. Soon after, she called…

In the last two months two people were attacked in South Bangalore. The first incident took place in BTM layout 1st stage where a woman was attacked by an intoxicated person and the recent attack in Jayanagar 4th T block by a man, suspected to be mentally unsound. In both cases, lodging FIRs was an uphill task. Family members of both the victims are concerned the way the cases were handled and fear that these incidents might repeat in the near future.On 18th July midnight, Suman’s (name changed upon request) family in Jayanagar woke up to loud screams of her…

Sanjiv Balgopal, on behalf of the association, had sent a complaint to the HSR layout police station on April 8th, 2012. He asked the police to investigate and take action. The letter contained number plate details of the truck and dumping, along with a CD containing pictures. In return, a month later, on May 7, Balgopal received a summon notice from the sub-inspector of police, HSR police station! Not satisfied with the citizens’ letter, Srinivas Reddy, Inspector, asked Balgopal to go to the spot, investigate and submit a first hand report instead. Speaking to Citizen Matters,  Reddy would only say…

The deadline for removing films has now been extended to June 5th.From May 20th, no vehicle in the city is supposed to have films plastered on its safety glasses, as per the recent Supreme Court ban. While Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP) is all set to fine offenders, vehicle owners in the city are rushing to BTP’s centres that offer to remove the films for free, as well as private garages.While private garages are charging as much as Rs 350-500, even BTP centres do not remove films for free. BTP had started service in 10 centres from May 10th. Hundreds of…

Illustration: Sridhar comaravalli Mar 21st UPDATE On the evening of March 20st, as this article was published, lawyers decided to call off the strike for a few days. This was in response to Karnataka Home Minister R Ashoka's order to transfer DCP(Central) G Ramesh and ACP K N Jitendranath. Lawyers say, however, that they are continuing to demand resignation of Ashoka himself. Also, DGP (CID) R K Dutta's report to Karnataka's Home Secretary has confirmed that police did not follow due procedure during the lathi-charge on advocates on March 2nd, according to media reports. Lawyers say it is now a…

In the case of a citizen's death during a Fire Department mock drill on February 24th, the Police have filed an FIR under Section 304A of the IPC (death by negligence) and are investigating. The case was based on a complaint by the victim's brother against fire department. Section 304A is bailable and carries maximum sentence of two years imprisonment with or without fine. File pic: Kiran Jonnalagadda Lawyer Mukund T S confirms that prosecution can be under Section 304A itself, as there was no intent to murder. "The incident was caused by negligence only, hence the more serious Section…

  A few days ago, I was having lunch at a restaurant in Jayanagar 4th Block which offered an excellent view of the Cool Joint junction. A surprise checkpost set up by three traffic policeman close to the junction was the highlight of my lunch. During the course of half-an-hour, the police stopped 16-17 vehicles with no apparent discrimination between autos, two wheelers, four wheelers and goods vehicles. The policeman would stand behind a tree and suddenly step in front of the vehicle of his choice to make sure that there was no escaping the long arm of the law.…