A resident has complained that he was defrauded of Rs 50 lakh advance on a fake site he finalised for Rs 3.6 crore.
The alleged fraud took place between February 2 and March 13, 2019. Politician R Chandrashekhar, a 46-year-old resident of Electronic City has alleged that he was cheated by Lakshmipathi T (30) and Sebastine (34).
Chandrashekhar, a member of the Konappana Agrahara village panchayat, was doing business in partnership with Suryanarayana. Chandrashekhar’s friend Sanjay Goyal introduced him to Sebastian who operated a real estate firm near Adigas restaurant on 5th Main in Sector 6, HSR Layout. Sebastian introduced Chandrashekhar to Lakshmipathi who claimed to have 2.1 acres of land in Doddanagamangala worth Rs 3.6 crore.
Towards this purchase, Chandrashekhar paid Rs 50 lakh advance in Sebastian’s office in HSR on March 13, 2019 and got Lakshmipathi’s signature on the site documents. However, when Chandrashekhar visited the site, he was told that the site belonged to somebody else and that Lakshmipathy was not the real landlord.
When Chandrashekhar asked for his money to be returned, both Lakshmipathy and Sebastian are alleged to have refused to pay up and in addition threaten him with dire consequences. The HSR cops have registered the case under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including cheating (420) amd criminal intimidation (506).
Thieves don’t leave any house unburgled, particularly when the tenant is far away from home. On April 21, 2019, Brigadier (retired) RS Murthy left for Vietnam with his wife. On May 15, 2019, around 5.15pm, Murthy’s security guard Bharat noticed that the back door was broken into.
The guard reported the incident to Murthy’s nephew Sanjeev Balakrishnan who stays in HSR Layout. Upon inspection, Sanjeev found that the house was ransacked as the thieves failed to find what they were looking for: jewellery and cash. They avoided the electronic items and took away all the taps and kitchen fittings. There was water all over the place. It was an act of frustration, according to Sanjeev.
The theft despite having informed the cops in advance. The police officials are asked to nab the people behind the theft and increase surveillance around 24th Main where the house stands. The HSR police have filed a case of house-breaking and theft, and are investigating.
Murthy is a prominent civic activist of HSR Layout. He was the co-founder of the 17-year-old Sector 2 Residents Welfare Association and also served as its president for some time.
In a damning case of abject negligence, a restaurant in HSR Layout was fined Rs 50,000 for dumping wet waste into the stormwater drain.
The promoters of the The Paratha Company were made to cough up the hefty fine as it was also a repeat offence, according to the civic officials. However, this time they had the proof to nail them. The restaurant was found guilty of dumping the waste in the stormwater drain behind the Indian Oil petrol bunk and near the Swachagraha Kalika Kendra.
The culprits were caught as they found the company’s address in the discards with the help of active residents. When the BBMP health inspector Vinodh GM visited the restaurant, he found more violations that attracted the hefty penalty.
“There were cockroaches everywhere, including the grinder, and the disposables were in a pathetic condition,” says resident activist Dr Shanthi Tummala. “Such unhygienic conditions should make any person stop ordering food online. In addition, they had no licence to operate the restaurant and also had their outlet filled with banned disposable items.”
All the grace time to basement shop owners is about to get over. After the results of the general elections are out on May 23, the basement shop demolitions will resume.
Talking to Residents Watch, BBMP Commissioner Manjunatha Prasad said, “We have shutdown many basement shops in Bengaluru and will continue our drive after the elections results are out.”
HSR BBMP officials echoed the same facts and said that the elections had put a spanner in the works. In addition, the shopkeepers had asked for more time to look for alternative places. When the BBMP announced that grace time was being given for the shopkeepers to shift, many assumed that the pause was permanent and have still not shifted. What’s more, many new basement shops have come up in HSR Layout. All such new establishments who violated the law will incur the most losses as all their fresh investments will come to nought.
BBMP has decided not to issue any notices before the shutdowns and demolitions. Since the parking areas are only meant for parking and no commercial activity is permitted in building basements, any construction for any other purpose is illegal, according to the Karnataka Municipal Act of 1976.
However, the lax implementation of this four-decade-old rule prompted the Karnataka High Court to come down heavily on the BBMP, which has prompted the civic agency to act. If the BBMP does not implement the rule due to the powers-that-be, it could land in serious trouble. Therefore, no matter who owns or runs a commercial establishment in a building basement, they will have to bow down before the law.
Some months ago, we came across a shed that was coming up in Sector 3 on 17th Main-19th Cross. When we enquired, the workers said a call centre was coming up. We were aghast. How can an office exist on a narrow road in a residential area? Later, we were told that a car washing shed was coming up, and it did come up despite our complaints to everyone at BBMP.
However, when the time for permissions came, the BBMP officials rejected the commercial proposition of having a car washing shed. “We clearly said that no commercial activity was possible, despite them getting letters from many people. In the meanwhile, the landlord changed and he had the shed demolished.”
The self-demolition happened around Karnataka election time. This clearly shows that when residents and the press highlight the irregularities, the authorities are duty bound to abide by the protests. However, we do request the authorities to ensure that they just follow the rulebook to save themselves a major penalty and embarassment in the future.
Whenever you spot such sheds coming up in residential areas, immediately alert the BBMP officials and the cops. Either of them can take action. Calling 100 is best. Don’t be afraid of the cops. They are supposed to guard us against the lawbreakers. Don’t hesitate. Each one of us can make a difference. If you think the other person will complain and you can rest easy, imagine what will happen if everyone thinks the same way? Utter chaos.
Head constable Manjunatha Swamy was declared the hero of April
For five years, Aruna and Rajesh had a free run snatching necklaces of women across Bangalore. But last week, they were apprehended by the HSR cops who recovered 20 necklaces from them. What’s more, Dr Isha Pant, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East), gave away chains to six people who had lost them to these thieves.
“They had committed 20 chain snatching incidents, including four in HSR Layout police limits, one in Koramangala, 1 in Begur, 3 in Tilaknagar and 4 in Rammurthy Nagar, among others,” said one police official. The star of this investigation was head constable Manjunatha Swamy, who was declared ‘Hero of April’ by the HSR cops.
The thieves were produced before the court on May 8. The other recovered necklaces will be handed over to the rightful owners after a court order ascertaining their ownership. Both the apprehended thieves were residents of Banaswadi and Kammanahalli respectively.
Recently, I came across something that I had never heard of before: a chance to lighten my day over a session of salt therapy at Salt World in HSR Layout. Upon entering, I sat on one of the chairs for a while, wondering what they would do. I saw a few packs of Himalayan salts on display and I thought: Will I get drenched while getting this done? If I did, how would I get back to the office? Are they going to scrub me with this salt? Will it hurt?
A pamphlet on the coffee table caught my eyes; I went through it and laughed to myself. Does this even work? What’s the point of having thirty sessions and going right back into all the dust and pollution? By the time these questions took over my head, a few more people arrived and I stopped myself and decided to experience it first.
Chamber of salts
Before the workshop began, we were given scrubs to wear over our hair and feet for hygiene reasons. Dr. Poornima Shetty, our advisor for the day led us to a room made of salt. It looked like Snow World at first glance with salty walls and floors. Honestly, I felt I had killed the vibe of the room a bit as I was the only one wearing green and not white. The room smelt like nothing, but I have to tell you I had a sick urge to taste the salt. However, I quickly told myself to focus and forget the urge. There were a few chairs but I picked the floor since it felt cooler. Dr. Shetty began her session about yoga and essential salts. I was familiar with yoga but Salt Therapy was something I was completely intrigued by. I was intrigued when she said they use “pharmaceutical grade” salt that is 100% pure Nacl (sodium chloride) that is used in saline sprays for nasal congestion since ages.
Dr Shetty spoke about how it is important to regulate and be aware of our breathing, and how most of us have forgotten to breathe the right way. Being a professional dancer, I knew how much difference just breathing right could do on stage. The doctor stressed on the importance of holding your back straight and how it is linked to various other bodily aspects. My dance teacher had also said that the way you hold your back can tell if you are a good dancer at first glance. Obviously breathing and posture made so much sense to yogis, musicians and dancers, but it’s often neglected by the others.
We had a small practice of five minutes where we were made to observe our breathing pattern and were asked to control it by inhaling deeply and exhaling even more deeply. We were then directed to a room where the therapy actually began. Salt particles were injected into the atmosphere by using a device called the halogenerator. And just seconds into the treatment, I knew I was starting to doze off. It felt even cooler than the previous room and made me feel as though I was in meditation almost instantly. I was aware of the minute salt particles hitting my skin and the smell of it was building up. I looked around and saw it wasn’t just me who was in a trance, but everyone else too. At that point, I didn’t know if this healed anything at all, but it just felt surreal. I fell asleep imagining what it would be like had our bedrooms and classrooms been like this. I remember waking up after about half-an-hour and feeling as though I was under a waterfall.
Time was up. I reluctantly got out of the room, removed the scrubs, put on my footwear and was ready to go. I knew I was coming back though; less salt in just food is not the only thing that I was going to complain about from now on. I want regular salt room sessions too!
Salt World No 1, Sri Chakra, 2nd Floor, 18th main, Behind Sai Baba Temple Phone: 99863-88677, 98801-03741. Website
There’s sewage in storm water drains of HSR Layout. Who is to blame? The BWSSB, the BBMP or the residents letting sewage into the drains that are supposed to only carry rainwater into the drains? The fact is that everyone is to be blamed for this. In addition, the desilting is done in a haphazard non-systematic manner. The debris cleared is left to dry. When there is another spell of rain, the debris is back into the drains, nullifying the previous effort to desilt the drains. When will the BBMP get its act together? Here is a video of one such drain in HSR Layout to give you an idea.
“We have been emphasizing this point on several occasions to the civic authorities but to no avail,” says resident RS Hiremath. “There is a large scale racket by the authorities who are allowing huge PGs and apartment blocks to simply let their sewage into storm water drains! The result is more mosquitoes, vector spread diseases, ground water contamination and stink, all at the cost of honest tax payers.”
The BBMP officials blame the BWSSB for not conducting due diligence of all the new properties that have come up in HSR Layout. “When people dig borewells, they don’t take Cauvery connection. In such cases, they illegally let the sewage into the stormwater drains,” said one BBMP official. “Usually, when anyone takes a water connection, they have to take sanitary connection also from the BWSSB.” However, the BWSSB is failing to keep a check on who has taken a sanitary connection and who has not. Since they have a readymade list, it’s easy to detect who is letting the sewage into the drains. Sources tell us that the BWSSB is to be blamed for the mess. It is the job of the inspectors to go through the lists, penalise the residents and ensure compliance.
There are stiff fines from both the BBMP and BWSSB on people who are letting sewage into the drains. If you know someone who is doing this, you can report to the BWSSB or the BBMP with a video or photographic proof.
Yesterday’s continuous rains have wrecked havoc in HSR Layout, leading to several residents suffering power breakdowns. This has led to water shortage too as the sump and borewell motors need electricity to transport water to the overhead tank. With BWSSB’s schedule being erratic, the residents were far more inconvenienced as they were getting Cauvery water but there was no electricity to send that supply to the storage tank.
According to Bescom officials, over a hundred complaints were registered overnight. Strong winds led to many tree falls and pole collapses across HSR Layout. This has led to outages across the neighbourhood, causing much agony to the residents. These pictures will convey the story better than any words would.
Bescom officials are doing their rounds of the neighbourhood to fix the faults. In other places, there was sparking in the transformers that had tripped the MCB’s. After fixing the sparking, the power is now back in several homes.
While Bescom officials claim that they have begun trimming the trees, fixing the leaning poles and errant transformers to be monsoon-ready, much more needs to be done to avoid the entire neighbourhood going dark for over 18 hours, like it happened in several parts of HSR Layout, including Sector 3, since 5pm yesterday.
Dry leaves on roads and footpaths are being swept on different days for different areas in HSR layout. Here is how it works, according to garbage supervisor for BBMP, Anil Benni: “It’s once a week for every road in HSR Layout,” he says. “The entire sweepers team is divided into two groups. They work five days a week between 10 am and 2 pm.
The areas covered are as follows for different days of the week:
Mondays = 6th sector & Freedom school area of 4th sector.
Tuesdays: 7th Sector Adigas backside, Guntoop, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar & NH Narayana hospital area in Sector 3.
Wednesdays & Sundays: The sweepers work half the day where they sweep all the main roads across all sectors up to 10am.
Thursdays: Parts of 7th sector & 3rd sector near Twin parks area.
Friday’s: Parts of 7th sector & 3rd sector near HSR Club.
Saturdays: 6th sector BBMP, Lawrence school backside, and right until 5th Main & 4th Sector Muneswara temple & Samarthanam school area.
If the debris is not being cleared for more than a week, you can call the following garbage supervisors to address the issue.
An unswept road on 15th B Main in Sector 3
In addition, if garbage collection is not proper in your area or road, these are the people who can address your issue. And remember, dry waste is picked every Saturday and Wednesday while wet/kitchen waste is on other days in Sectors 1, 3,4,5,6,7. For Sector 2, the dry and wet waste is collected together.
