CRIME

Day before yesterday, I was driving back home from work. At the Silk Board signal, the lights had turned green. I was crossing over, suddenly an auto rickshaw comes out of nowhere, cuts across, breaking all rules and I had to hit the breaks but couldn't stop myself from hitting the auto rickshaw. Still from promo film on road accidents, made by the Bangalore Traffic Police. It was a minor hit. I have a Maruthi 800, my bumper got dislodged a bit and the auto rickshaw's right mudguard had a dent.I know many people who would just drive off. The…

In what appears to be the tip of the iceberg, the owner of a HP (Hindustan Petroleum) petrol bunk in Banashankari caught the driver of a fuel tanker siphoning off 150-200 litres, valued at Rs 6000-7000. The incident happened on Tuesday, February 1st.  The truck from which petrol was siphoned off by the driver. It has been stationed at the petrol bunk while investigations are going on. Pic: Navya P K Mani Siddaiah, owner of Mahadeswara petrol bunk in Banashankari 3rd Stage, says that the truck driver has admitted to removing the petrol by opening the locks on top of…

Praveen Sood, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) talked recently about effective traffic management.Given that only about 1% of the total traffic violations are actually ever fined and the traffic police department is just 2500 strong, what is the way forward? Sood has mentioned (The Hindu, January 31) how about 40% of road space is taken up by parking mostly unauthorised. Earlier at the Jayanagar meeting, Sood talked about active Residents' Welfare Associations can replicate the Brigade Road parking model and charge vehicles for parking. They can also help prevent illegal parking - Clamps, he said, can be bought by the…

The Karnataka bandh on Saturday disrupted normal life in Bengaluru.  On Friday, 21st January, Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj's gave his sanction to initate prosecution of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa of the BJP on allegations of the latter's involvement in several land scam cases. The party announced the bandh in protest. "Sixty six BMTC buses have been damaged across the city including one volvo bus and a Marco polo bus," said K S Vishwanath, Chief Traffic Manager (Operations) at BMTC.  "However there are no casualties reported on staff members", he said. BJP supporters being arrested by Bangalore City Police.…

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…

In response to the mugging incidents on the Outer ring road, the police have sent this information to the Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA). Excerpts from the mail. With reference to recent mugging incidents that are reporting on Outer Ring Road, Marathalli, Sarjapur and Hosur Road. Kindly advise your employees What ever may be the case do not come out of their vehicle and raise alarm for help from car by switching on car alarm. Or advice them to insist for lodging complaint at the nearest traffic police station for the accident incident. Advice employees keep them local police…

The Outer Ring Road-Sarjapur Road saw mugging incidents in mid 2010. Later the HSR Police nabbed some culprits.These incidents have again started in the area. Here are some incidents that happened. Note: some have been verified and some not. The Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) has organised a helpline. If anybody finds themself in this situation, they can call 9972630616. They should dial the phone number, keep it on and keep talking to let us know the area / where he is. The ORRCA supervisor and team will try and do the needful immediately. The modus operandi is: Residents,…

 On the 20th of December, at about 3pm, we were travelling in a hired cab, and the car (an Innova, belonging to M/s. Chandru Travels) was stopped near the Ranga Shankara/Innisfree House School area by the traffic police.They asked to see the driver's documents, and the driver (Mr Prabhakar) had everything in order.Mr Prabhakaran was dressed in a white shirt and trousers, presenting a neat appearance.The police then wrote out a challan for his "not being in complete uniform" as the driver of a hired cab, and fined him Rs. 100.Can someone tell me the logic of such a rule,…

A notorious gang of criminals conning Bengaluru women into giving up their jewellery since 1991 were caught recently. Police (Bangalore South) are now preparing chargesheets against the gang members.  Gang members lined up outside the JP Nagar police station. Pic courtesy: JP Nagar Police. The gang used to steal jewellery from women, posing as policemen and promising to keep the jewellery safe. In Bangalore alone, there are 100 cases against the gang in 34 different police stations. Ten of the gang were nabbed on September 12 while six others were arrested on October 3 by the special squad. The squad…

I was lucky to avoid myself and family getting mugged on Monday late night near Devanahalli. It was around 1:15 am last Tuesday. I was on my way to my in-laws place, after picking up my cousin from the Bangalore International Airport. I took a turn from National Highway-7 towards Devanahalli. I wasn't sure of the exact turn towards H-Cross (This is the junction where four roads – Devanahalli, Bangalore, Kolar, Chintamani – meet. It is around 22 kms from Devanahalli). So I stopped near a Tata Indica and asked my wife Sandhya to lower her window to ask the…