Crime

Businessman Somashekhara Raju (31), a resident of Laggere, has alleged that four persons conned him and his partners by promising to set up a company for them. However, even after 19 months, the firm was never opened although the expenses kept getting added up. Raju and his two partners Shivakumar and GMK Gowdar were allegedly cheated of over Rs 33 lakh.

According to the police complaint at HSR Layout police station, the accused namely Zameer, Nadeem, Suhel Khan and Nazeer met Raju and his business partners and promised to set up an inexpensive firm near Jalahalli and promised to take care of the maintenance expenditures for three months after the company inauguration.

In addition, they promised to pay 25% of the investment amount every three months in four instalments. Raju paid Rs 33 lakh into the bank accounts of the accused. These even included payments for publicity, salaries, building rental advance, electricity, water and other equipment rentals.

The accused asked Raju to deposit the money into the bank account of Letz Cabs (Mexo Cab) in Sector 3 near Saibaba temple. Raju did what he was told.

However, the company was never inaugurated even after 19 months. And neither did the accused return the money. When Raju asked for money, he was allegedly threatened by the accused. The cops have registered a case of cheating, and criminal intimidation.

On July 16, a midnight robbery attempt was foiled by an alert neighbour.

While constable Mylarappa was at his police outpost in Sector 6, one neighbour rushed to inform him at 1230am. The alert resident reported that a stranger was seen loitering on the terrace of a house on 1st A Main.

When the citizen and the cop rushed to the scene of perceived criminal activity, the stranger jumped out of the house compound and vanished under the cover of darkness. The cop inspected the locked house for any forcible entry but was checked to be fine.

The alert citizen had prevented a theft from happening by being vigilant. The cops are on the hunt for this thief who is charged with attempt to commit theft.

The next time, you see any suspect behaviour or a vehicle parked for days, call 100 and report about it. A vigilant public can prevent many crimes.

The cops had a hard time the other day when they tried to quieten two men talking loudly on 14th Main Road in Sector 6.

At 1230am on July 28, head constables B Kumaraswamy and constable Basavaraju encountered two men during their night beat. They found the youth parking their car at the junction of 14th Main and talking loudly. When the cope asked them to lower their voice and vacate the spot, the men mouthed expletives like ‘police dog’ and threatened to kill the khaki-clad men if they obstruct their activity.

In the melee, one of the men caught the collar of head constable Kumaraswamy and kept pushing him back and forth. When constable Basavaraju tried to intervene, he was pushed and beaten on the head while being mouthed expletives.

The accused are Jayaram KB, a 35-year-old employee at a private firm and a resident of Mahadevapura, and Pradeep Kumar S, a 26-year-old private employee and a resident of Doddanekkundi.

The cops have registered a case against the two persons for breach of peace, common criminal intention, and assaulting and hurting public servants.

Two wheelers being stolen every other day in HSR Layout is quite common. However, a rental service has also not been spared by the thieves now.

On June 6, June 30 and July 8, Road Panda, an online bike rental service was used by alleged thieves to get three bikes which they never returned till date.

The police complaint alleges that Theja, Arun Sai and Vamsi Krishna, all residents of Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh, rented three bikes online: Royal Enfield Classic 350 (KA51 AA0180) and two Honda Activas (KA51 AC5055 & KA51 AC7496) on three separate days.

Complainant Vijay Meena alleges that the accused have neither paid the rent nor returned the bikes. The cops have registered a case of cheating and are investigating. What appears to have worked against the company is that they take no deposits and also fill the tanks fully before renting them out. Their charges range from Rs 12/hour to Rs 33/hour, depending on the bike.

Drivers of water tankers have killed and broken many bones of people in HSR Layout. Now, individuals driving tempo travellers have become dangerous too. In recent cases, one driver critically injured a pedestrian while another driver rammed into a car, and hurting its driver. Therefore, watch out for them.

Take the case of July 25, 2019. Divya S (20 years), a resident of Bellandur, was grievously injured by Venkatesh (31), the driver of a tempo traveller near the upper ramp of the Bellandur flyover. The incident occurred at around 7.30am when Divya and her brother Ashok were walking from Shanti Sweets towards Bangalore Central mall.

Their plan was to take a bus from the Bellandur bus stand to go to Marathhalli. However, a tempo traveller (KA01 AF6732) allegedly being driven rashly by Venkatesh coming from the Iblur side and proceeding towards Marathhalli hit Divya while she was trying to cross the road. She incurred head injuries and was immediately rushed to the nearby Sakra hospital. Thankfully, Divya is discharged from the hospital and being treated at home, brother Ashok told Residents Watch.

This incident comes on the heels of yet another tempo traveller incident at the same spot just a day earlier. On July 24, at 1.20pm, Vasuki C (43) suffered minor injuries as she was driving a car. The resident of Brookefield, she was a victim of Praveen Kumar’s alleged rash driving near the upper ramp of Bellandur flyover. He hit Vasuki’s car from behind. The impact was such that Vasuki’s car hit the car in front of her, resulting in damages on the front and back of her vehicle. In addition, she incurred minor injuries in her back.
In both the cases involving the tempo travellers, the HSR traffic cops have booked a case of rash driving and endangering the life of victims.

The next time you decide to withdraw a large amount of money from the bank, be more careful. Importantly, don’t stop anywhere on your way back home. Not even to attend to a small errand or meet someone along the way. Just go straight home without stopping anywhere.

And when, someone tries to bang on your car door or divert attention while you are riding your bike, don’t pay any attention. Pray why? Because thieves are following your every move. The moment you leave your vehicle alone with your cash or valuables even for a few minutes, they could vanish, like it happened with 34-year-old Namratha V, a resident of HSR Layout.

On July 22 at 1240pm, Namratha withdrew Rs 3.5 lakh from Canara Bank in Sector 7. She kept the money in the dickey of her two wheeler and visited her relative’s under construction building. She parked her vehicle and was inside the building for half an hour.

When she returned and began to ride, she realised that the seat was unhinged. When she opened the dickey, the money was nowhere to be seen. The thieves had stolen the money when she had gone inside the under construction building. The HSR cops have registered a case of theft and are investigating.

 

Twenty-four-year-old Mukta (name changed) has alleged that her boss made sexual advances to her while she was busy working in his office.

According to the complaint, Amar Bhowmik, a director at Tresilient Business Solutions located in Sector 6, outraged her modesty by forcibly hugging her while she was working. The incident is said to have occurred on July 26 between 4.30pm and 5.30pm. The victim is a resident of Ellukunte and deeply embarassed about the incident. She wants the cops to take action on the alleged culprit, so he does not commit this devious act with any other female employee.

The HSR Layout cops have registered a case of sexual harassment under IPC 354A. If convicted, the accused could be jailed for three years or pay a hefty fine or both.

Next time you are parking your vehicle anywhere, make sure you take your valuables with you. And ensure that you have properly rolled up the windows and locked all the doors of your car. Victim Lakshmi discovered this truth last month.

 

On June 29 at 6.30pm, Lakshmi Kaushik parked her Honda CRV car on Agara service road and left to be part of her friend’s birthday celebrations of their daughter.

 

When she returned around 8pm, the dickey door was open and three bags were found to be missing. The items that were in them included kids toys and clothes, artificial jewellery and gold jewellery (chain, necklace and earrings) and diamond necklace.

 

The worth of the stolen goods is not known. The 32-year-old victim is a resident of Sarjapur Road.

The HSR cops registered a case of robbery on July 3 and are investigating.

 

Phone snatching has caught up with phone snatching incidents across the city, and HSR Layout is no exception. Sometimes, drunk youth snatch mobiles from those walking on the roads with their handsets stuck to their ears. But most times, there are two-wheeler borne thieves who are waiting for hapless victims to use their phones, so they can approach them on the pretence of asking for directions and snatching their phone in the interim. The only way to prevent phone snatching is to avoid talking on public roads and take the footpaths instead. However, if you have to use the phone, stay alert for any slow movement of vehicles closer to you. If they are wearing helmets and on a two-wheeler, keep your phone away from them and be vigilant.

If you are not careful, you could lose your phone just like Ngamhao, a 20-year-old employee at Vegas Spa & Salon on 19th Main, Sector 2. On July 3 at 6.30pm, he was walking across the road in front of Bandepalya Police Station when two bike-borne thieves came from behind him and one of them snatched his Redmi phone and escaped on the two wheeler.

 

Usually mobile phone thefts don’t figure in the FIR as it’s considered a minor offence for which the state machinery will have to spend undue time. Such incidents are only taken as regular police complaints for insurance purposes. However, if the complainant insists, like it happened in the past to one lady (and we have reported about it), the cops are forced to take it as an FIR. The cops have registered a case of robbery under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) 392. If the thieves are found and convicted, they could be in prison for ten years and also pay a fine.

 

Interestingly, while the incident took place in front of Bandepalya Police Station, the case was registered by the HSR Layout unit as the Bandepalya station is located in HSR Layout for want of space in its own territory.

 

Between May 12, 2019 and May 27, 2019, HSR Club was witness to a scam running into Rs 12 lakh regarding the illegal sale of liquor by a staffer. The cops have filed a case of criminal breach of trust and cheating against him.

The case relates to CA site 12 where the HSR Club is located in Sector 3 since 1996. According to Srinivasa Reddy, the secretary of HSR Club, when an auditing was done on the number of liquor bottles, it was found that alcohol was missing from the cans.

The fingers are pointing to Sudhakar, a resident of Chikkamagaluru, who is allegedly absconding since May 25, 2019. HSR Club has four liquor counters, including one at the terrace garden restaurant where Sudhakar is a cashier since 2004.

After HSR Club’s new committee took over on May 12, 2019, an auditing was conducted where this anomaly was detected. There were several liquor cartons but the bottles were missing worth Rs 11.98 lakh.