The HSR traffic police has given a list of roads that need speedbreakers on five occasions, but the BBMP is yet to do its job. When we contacted the senior officials in the civic body’s headquarters, we were told that work will start after the cycle track is laid. That is not the only reason, however. “Everytime, we give them a list of speedbreakers, they would say we have a lot of work,” said one cop. However, when we spoke to the traffic engineering cell of the BBMP, they said there were no funds.
When we pressed on that the speedbreakers, white stripes and reflectors are a must at every hump in HSR, the BBMP officials said, “The cycle track work is now in the agreement stage. We have called for a tender. The work on the speedbreakers will start once the cycle track work is done in a month or so.”
Some of the speedbreakers identified by the HSR traffic police include 17th, Cross, HSR Club road; 19th Main near Cult Fit; 27th main near HP petrol bunk; 19th Main near Indian Oil petrol bunk; and 17th Cross Coffee Day, among others. Though this list was given over four months ago, the BBMP wasn’t able to execute this due to the cycle track work getting delayed for various reasons.
The BBMP is also mulling over another proposal of painting the roads and speedbreakers 2-3 times a year instead of just once. “In three months, the paint wears away and the speedbreakers cannot be seen at night,” said the official. “We have asked for such a budgetary provision to be incorporated into our future tenders. We are hopeful.”
HSR Layout resident Sankar Sarma is shocked that his complaint about footpath parking on 14th Main Road in Sector 3 was rejected by the Public Eye app of the city traffic police. “Are you saying parking on footpath is not a violation?” tweeted Sarma to the top cops in traffic. “Footpath is for pedestrians. Please check again.”
HSR residents believe that parking on the footpaths in commercial roads should be restricted as the pedestrians could be risking their life and limb if they stepped on to a busy thoroughfare. In addition, it’s impossible to commute on foot for senior citizens and children. Therefore, such offences on busy roads should be acted upon by the traffic police.
To be fair, we have also seen the ‘tiger’ patrol vehicle of the traffic police removing cars and bikes from such busy roads. However, the drive isn’t intensive enough. In addition, rejecting complaints of footpath encroachment by cars and bikes on the app itself sends out a confusing picture.
In Pune, parking on footpaths invites a fine of Rs 1000-2000 and yet people violate the law over there for lack of intensive police drives. In Kerala, the State Human Rights Commission ordered the police to crack down on illegal parking on footpaths in Thiruvananthapuram in May this year. Interestingly, pavement parking is a grey area even in the UK, barring London. Their law states that you ‘should not’ park on footpaths elsewhere in UK and ‘must not’ in London.
This is the third theft of electronic goods in HSR Layout where an FIR is registered. We are not even talking of the many cases that don’t get registered and just remain a simple police complaint.
Take this theft on December 13 at 6.40am on 24th Main, Sector 1. Since the door was open when the theft occurred, the HSR cops refused to file a police complaint. But Sushmita, the Sector 1 resident waited for five days and then went to the station, sat for two hours and did not leave the station until the complaint was filed.
She had a good reason for that. The CCTV in her building had the thief’s face captured on digital film. There is more likelihood of him being caught than others whose identity is completely unknown. And if this thief was caught before by the cops, he becomes a known offender who is far easier to catch.
“The maid had kept the door open and left at 6.46am,” Sushmita told Residents Watch. “By the time I got ready to go to office and shut the door, the thief had stolen my laptop (13-inch Macbook Air) and left. I didn’t know of the theft until I came back home as it’s my old personal laptop.”
Later, when she looked at the CCTV footage, she realised that the thief had nonchalantly walked in and tried to open every door leading up to the second floor where she lived. “He got lucky,” she says. “There are 10-12 independent houses in this building.”
The moral of the story? Keep all your doors shut and don’t keep anything next to a window. Instruct your maid to always lock the door after entering the house. And you go behind your maid or driver and lock the door when they leave. One small mistake can be quite costly.
If all HSR residents follow the crime updates on this channel, many of their valuables would be safe. They can learn from the faults of others. On December 6, we wrote about how a Sector 3 resident lost his laptop and phone for keeping his door open. Twelve days later, a similar theft happened at an apartment on 24th Main in Sector 2. The door was kept open and the alleged thief made away with electronic goods worth lakhs.
The theft occurred between 7.30am and 7.50am on December 18 at Misty Meadows apartment near Food Palace in Sector 2. Twenty-seven-year-old Sanchay Gupta kept his front door open and went inside the rooms for some work. By the time he was back in 20 minutes, he ended up losing expensive gadgets like an Apple Macbook Air, two iPhone 7 phones, Dell laptop (14-inch), a headphone, charger, two silver rings, keyboard and mouse, among others. In all, he lost goods worth Rs 2.5 lakhs.
What’s shocking is that this has happened in a more secure apartment complex. We can understand if independent houses are facing this issue, but if apartments are also being targetted by miscreants, then this case should serve a cautionary note to every resident. They can no longer keep their entrance door open. Anybody can walk in and walk out within seconds.
In this case, the alleged culprit’s face, though not clearly visible, was captured on CCTVs at the apartment entrance. “He’s seen enterting without a bag and exiting with a bag,” said Sanchay to Residents Watch. “When I checked the footage from other places to see if I can get his vehicle number, I found that he was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans and roaming around the street for 20 minutes before entering our apartment on foot, and he had no company.”
Clearly, there was a flaw at the apartment security as no one should be allowed inside without making an entry in the log book. However, that alone may not be enough. What is required is more vigilance by the residents’ themselves. No longer can they keep their doors and windows open. In another recent case, the window grill was sawed to steal a laptop kept in a ground floor independent house in Sector 2 after they had slept at night.
You can still prevent more such thefts. Just hit the ‘share’ button for this story on the homepage and pass it on to your contacts on WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter, among others.
Based on complaints from residents of Sector 3, BBMP has issued a notice to resident Sudha Venkatesh today to stop rearing and selling cats within three days, failing which the law will take its course.
“When the BBMP tried serving the notice (for health and safety concerns) on the breeder yesterday, they initially declined to accept it, but later acknowledged it,” says resident Gowtham Reddy, the primary complainant. “The breeder and shelterer was raising her voice and threatening me for complaining with the authorities. She had rowdies at her place, at least five guys.”
The notice by health inspector Vinodh GM says that the BBMP officials found the inhabitants of house number 183, 21st Cross, 18th Main, Sector 3, “rearing and selling” cats.
Here is a scan of the notice. In case the inhabitants fail to comply with the order, BBMP will take further action under the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act 1976 under Section 443 (4).
Vikram Vijayan, a resident of Sector 3, HSR Layout, died in a freak accident on the night of Monday, December 17. Employed with Wipro as a software engineer, the 28-year-old had gone to the Carmelaram railway station off Sarjapur Road to see off his parents who had come to visit him.
Vikram with his parents
Since the train stops only for a minute, the rail began to move when he was nearing the seat where his parents had booked their birth. Immediately, he placed their luggage and rushed out with a hurried goodbye to his parents. But he made a fatal mistake, according to the railway police.
He jumped out of the train in the opposite direction of the train’s movement. Gravity came into play here as he panicked and was sucked between the train and the platform. Eye witnesses say that his hands, legs and head were detached from the rest of his body as he came under the wheels of the train.
Watching his son fall, even his father Vijayan jumped off the train, and incurred severe injuries but was declared safe after a hospital visit. The parents were taking the Yeshwanthpur-Kannur express train to reach Palakkad when the incident occurred. A case of natural death is registered by the Byappanahalli railway police.
Aparna, a 22-year-old resident of HSR Layout and a student of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Sector 1 was stabbed by her collegemate last year by Rana. He had mistaken her friendship for love but when he realised that she was in love with her office colleague Kaushik after graduating from NIFT, he couldn’t take it anymore.
On October 16, 2017, Rana went to her house in HSR Layout and finding them together, stabs both of them with a knife. While Kaushik dies instantly due to repeated stabs, Aparna was rushed to the hospital where she recovered. Hearing the cries, when the neighbours rush towards the house, Rana jumps off the house on the first floor. The impact on the ground immobilised Rana and he was caught by the public who handed him over the patrolling police vehicle that arrived soon after.
Last week, the court found Rana guilty of murder and sentenced him for ten years with a fine of Rs 25,000 that he is supposed to give to the family of Kaushik who died.
Based on a tip off, the HSR Layout police swooped down on a drug peddler and seized narcotics worth Rs 50,000. In an elaborate procedure, the lone accused was arrested after all the procedures were followed by the police like getting independent people to verify that the accused possessed drugs on him.
Cannabis or weed
The police operations began at 10.30am and went on till 1.15pm near NIFT in Sector 1 on December 15. The accused is Samsuddin, a 28-year-old resident of Mangammana Palya. The cops found 1050 grams of ganja and Rs 500 cash on him at the time of arrest.
After the tip off and official approval from ACP Madiwala, sub inspector M Neekakantan (51 years) called designated local residents (pancharas) and five constables landed at the place and stopped their Hoysala vehicle a little distance away from the spot to observe the proceedings. And true enough, the group saw one person selling a narcotic substance to the general public.
The cops surrounded him and unearthed his identity. He had small plastic sachets in his pocket. In addition, the cops noticed that he had kept weed in a plastic cover on a tree nearby. When asked, the accused admitted that they were cannabis (ganja or weed). A person from Kerala was selling it to him for a cheaper price. The accused Samsuddin apparently told the cops that he would make a powder of the weed and make small packets of 30 grams and sell them to his customers, including college students.
Since the procedure required a gazetted officer to vet the physical inspection of the accused, KM Vijay, accountant, Bescom, HSR Layout division was brought by the cops to the spot. In front of the Bescom employee, the accused was body searched around 12pm and brought to the police station at 1.15pm.
The accused has been charged under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. This rule prohibits any person from producing, possessing, buying, selling, transporting, storing or consuming any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance. If convicted, the accused could be in jail for 10-20 years and may have to pay fine of Rs 1-2 lakh.
On the night of December 4, a pearl white Toyota Fortuner (KA03 AE4825) worth Rs 22 lakh was allegedly stolen in Sector 1. Thanks to a hidden, inbuilt GPS, the sports utility vehicle was traced to Rajasthan near the India-Pakistan border. The cops and the car rental company officials gave chase in two instances, but the thieves outsmarted them. Later, they allegedly disconnected the GPS in the car and the car trail is dead ever since. Orix Infrastructure, the car rental firm, has filed a case of theft with the HSR cops. The accused Roshan Khan faces two allegations: criminal breach of trust (IPC 406) and cheating (IPC 420).
This was the fourth theft attempt of this very car that was successful. It was stolen last year but was recovered through GPS in Rajasthan again. Apparently, the thieves had covered the car in a haystack. But the GPS fitted surreptitiously inside the car gave them away – the thieves were not table to remove or detect the GPS. This time, however, the recovery team comprising the cops and the car rental company officials had to face defeat. And how? Read on for this fascinating car chase that transcended states.
HOW THEY TRACKED THE CAR
Since the company was renting self-drive cars, the accused comes at 1am after booking the car online. He was given all the documents pertaining to the car on December 4. He was supposed to return the car on December 6. The self drive car officials of Orix Infrastructure tracked their vehicle for two days when the customer did not return it at the designated time in HSR Layout. They found the Fortuner being used by some folks in Rajasthan through the hidden GPS inside the stolen car. The team even came close to catching the culprits near the dry bed of a river. But the filmy style chase ended up in the thieves’ favour. The self-drive officials were in a Dzire while the cops were in their jeep. However, only the thieves in the stolen Fortuner could make it past the dry bed of Luni river, thanks to its powerful 4-wheel drive capability, while the Dzire and the jeep folks were left stranded at the shore – their vehicles were stuck in the sand. The local cops in Rajasthan are guessing that the vehicle contained a major drug haul. If not, they would have easily abandoned the vehicle and left, according to them.
PREVIOUS TWO THEFT ATTEMPTS
In the other two instances, luck was on the side of the car rental firm. In the first instance, a customer ordered for the Fortuner at the Bangalore airport. However, the self-drive official who came to drop off the car found the customer to be shabbily dressed and not worthy of a Fortuner. In the next instance, the customer’s date of birth did not match with his driving licence, Aadhaar and voter ID. However, in the latest case of HSR Layout, the customer was well dressed and even spoke at length to the staff, leaving no room for doubt. Even the people who were found using the car in Rajasthan did not bear any resemblance to the person who took it in HSR Layout. According to our sources, the accused Roshan Khan must have sold the car to the drug traffickers for a measly Rs 2-2.5 lakh. Our sources also tell us that most cars stolen by drug traffickers in Bangalore go to Rajasthan, Nagaland and Kerala.
THE WAY FORWARD FOR CAR RENTAL FIRMS
These thefts have left the self-drive companies across India in a state of dilemma. However, the business has to go on and they are taking their chances with GPS fitments. But even that can be found out once a trained is able to check the trail of the power supply cables. So the companies are insisting on local address proofs or contact numbers.
However, when an outstation person orders for a rental online, they have to give them on face value. In the HSR incident, by just paying Rs 20,000 for a four-day trip, the customer made away with a car worth Rs 22.5 lakh. Orix Infrastructure had learnt one lesson from all these car chases. They have stopped renting a Fortuner for good. Orix was the only company renting Fortuners in Bangalore. Now, The drug peddlers will have to target an Innova instead.
HOW CAN YOU KEEP YOUR CAR SAFE?
If you own a Fortuner, Innova or Mahindra XUV, chances of theft by drug peddlers are high. However, for general car thieves any vehicle can be a target. “Stealing a car with manual lock is more difficult than a computer-controlled car,” says our source. “The government is mulling over pasting embosed stickers containing the registration numbers on the vehicle’s engine, chassis and other parts, and such stickers will be impossible to remove.”
However, while the Punjab police has already implemented this, the Karnataka state government is still sitting on the idea since November 2014. This has been the case with several states across the country. However, things will change from January next year as the union transport ministry has made it mandatory for all manufacturers to fit all new vehicles with tamper-proof, high security registration plates (HSRP). These will have a self-destructive, tamper-proof sticker containing the engine and chassis number of the vehicle.
Another tip to prevent thieves from disconnecting your car’s GPS is to avoid fixing the GPS to the dashboard or even announcing it through a sticker that says, ‘GPS inside’. That will alert the thieves and they will get it removed first before attempting to sell or relocate it. Another far more efficient way for people managing a fleet of cars for rental purposes or personal use can opt for magnetic GPS trackers as the battery lasts for 25 days.
The other problem with car and bike thefts is that the offence is bailable. Within 15 days, the culprit is out of jail and back to do what he or she does best: steal. Therefore, sources tell us that only a non-bailable offence against thieves can prevent more thefts from happening.
On Sunday, a special drive was conducted by a recycling company in collaboration with HSR Layout residents. About 350 kilos of electronic waste was collected during the process.
The HaSiRu Mithra team of HSR Layout residents conducted a successful e-waste collection drive for residents of HSR Layout and Somasundrapalya with 4R Recycling, an approved and Authorized vendor by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board.
“Individuals and resident welfare associations came to drop off ewaste from various nearby areas,” said volunteer Kamesh Rastogi. “It was nice to see the enthusiastic response from the citizens as we collected e-waste in various categories with the Mantra of 4R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recreate).”
The residents were so impressed by this gesture that they have asked the organisers to conduct it again after a few months, and the Hasiru Mithra team has obliged them. “No one can lead a life without basic technology tools,” says resident Kavitha Reddy. “Generation of waste is a reality, and it’s far better than the waste generation of 5 to 15 kg per person per day in advanced countries as we still generate less than 1-2 kg. So how we manage ewaste is important.”
A new resident of HSR Layout turned her house in Sector 3 into a sheltering space for several cats and dogs. The result was the constant barking, meowwing during late nights and the health hazard due to the mess created by these pets, allege the neighbours. However, the pet owner defends herself by saying that the noise pollution will come down once the animals settle down in their new house. She also claims to have taken all precautions to ensure that there is no hygiene or nuisance issue in the area.
BBMP ACTS
BBMP Health Inspector Vinodh GM immediately acted on the complaint by the residents of Sector 3. Last week, he visited the house and asked the pet owner to have the animals removed from the residential house. Even if you are keeping many pets for noble reasons, if they disturb the neighbours, then they will have to go was the BBMP’s reasoning.
Alleges disgruntled resident Gowtham Reddy: “The new neighbor at the back of my house started breeding and rearing cats… She has at least 30 cats on her terrace. She has made an open cage shelter for cats to stay permanently. We as immediate neighbours (seven families) are disturbed due to the constant ‘meow’ sound and are concerned about health safety issues.”
Another resident Balu Padur reacted to this story: “How can one individual rear so many cats? This seems to be a case of breeding under the cover of rearing. Like dogs breeding business in HSR under the cover of rearing. BBMP only can effectively help in such matters.”
The residents did not stop with their complaints. “It is not just the noise,” says Venkat Krishna Peddibhoti. “They mess up the whole place, my basement is messed up with cat poop.”
The sheltering is happening at house number 183, 21st Cross Road, 18th Main Road in Sector 3 behind HSR Club. The house owner was warned and the pets are to be out soon, according to the BBMP.
ANIMAL LOVER RESPONDS TO THE ALLEGATIONS
In response to the story, pet owner Sudha Venkatesh says, “I am an animal activist and also a part of various animal organizations. My love for animals is showcased in a way of petting and taking care of them. I have three dogs (two small breeds and one with three legs) and 10+ cats. All of them were either rescued or brought to us by people.”
She claims that she is not breeding animals, just sheltering them. “We ourselves are opposers of breeding activities and moreover, all our cats and dogs are sprayed and neutered. I don’t see in what way we can breed them. As per the Health Inspector, we were told that keeping too many pets is not allowed in the residential area as it can cause trouble to the residents. Regarding that, I am taking care of these pets for the last eight years and have lived in residential areas itself. I would not dare to go against the rules if there were any. I would like to attach few links which talk about the rules for keeping pets.”
Megha has given the following links: Laws in Keeping Pets in Society, Rules Related to Pets and Street Dogs, Rules and Laws About Owning Pets in India. “All of my cats and dogs are formally trained and do not make any kind of nuisance as mentioned,” she said. “We moved in on 14th December night. It’s been 3 days since our arrival, we also requested the Health inspector saying that our pets are in stress due to the new environment and would take 2 to 3 days to settle down and he kindly agreed to that.
“Our cats are indoor cats; we have never left them out for safety reasons. In a big house like we are living in, it needs to be properly covered for them to enjoy the space as well as stay safe. We are also covering up the required space with sheets for keeping our pets warm as well as considering the neighbors’ requirements. Attaching a picture of the cats enjoying the terrace view should not be considered as caged.
“They are litter-trained and poop in the places they are supposed to and we clean it 4 to 5 times a day to avoid the smell to spread around as we stay in the same house. There is no possibility of my cats going to someone else’s basement to do their business. The stake holders were informed about all the necessary things before we moved in. I have no such ideas of vacating my pets as I do not support any of the complaints issued.”
A special one-day drive is being conducted by 4R Recycling, a waste management company. It will pick up electronic waste at a designated spot in Sector 2 tomorrow between 10am and 1pm. For some items, it will even pay you for it. The detailed chart is given below as electronic items are divided into positive, negative and zero value materials.
HOW TO DISPOSE EWASTE AFTER SUNDAY?
Well, for small items, there is the permanent ewaste collection kiosk by Saahas in front of MK Retail on 17th Cross near NIFT in Sector 2. If that is too small for bulky electronic waste, you could deposit the waste at another pickup point in Sector 4. However, at both these spots you will not be paid for the positive value items either. It’s just a convenience service provided by two NGOs.
