HSR Layout

A Sector 1 resident has alleged harassment for dowry between May 28, 2015 and February 15, 2019 at her inlaws place in Anekal. However, the complaint was lodged only on August 24, 2019.

Housewife Silpi (name changed), a 24-year-old married to Shivakumar (32), has alleged harassment for dowry from her husband and his family. The accused are Nagaratnamma and Motappa (residents of Anekal), Shivashankar and Manjula (residents of Kudlu).

According to Silpi’s complaint, she was married on August 28, 2015 where her parents spent Rs 12 lakh on the wedding and gave Rs 4 lakh as dowry. She lived happily only for three months after her marriage. Both her mother-in-law Nagaratna and father-in-law Motappa began harassing her for dowry, both mentally and physically – they used to even hit with their hands.

Silpi put up with all of this for four years in the hope that her husband would come around. However, in February this year, she and her daughter were thrown out of her husband’s house in Anekal. She was told by her husband and in-laws to only re-enter the house with Rs 5 lakh dowry.

Silpi is staying with her mother in HSR Layout ever since. One day, her husband’s co-brother and his wife visited her home. On the pretext of talking to her kid, they allegedly kidnapped her daughter on his two-wheeler and handed her over to Silpi’s husband on February 15, 2019. When Silpi confronted her husband to give back her child, he mouthed expletives and allegedly threatened her with life.

The cops have registered a case of dowry, harassment, criminal intimidation and intentional insult.

 

On August 20, between 1pm and 5pm, a curious incident occurred in Sector 1, HSR Layout. An 18-year-old daughter of a 45-year-old software engineer went missing.

The missing person, a resident of 14th Cross, 25th B Main, took her mother’s Honda Jazz car (KA03HW9167) on the pretense of taking it for a spin. However, she never returned.

To add to the worries of parents, her phone was switched off whenever they called. After enquiring with friends and relatives, the girl’s father decided to file an FIR.

The cops have registered a missing person’s complaint and are investigating. In such cases, while some people return home, others never come back. We have seen cases where people go missing on purpose to avoid financiers, while others do it to elope with lovers or spend time with friends.

Don’t leave precious belongings in your car or home, not even laptops, particularly company property that contains confidential information.

On July 18 between 6.30pm and 7.30pm, Jyothi Singh (29) learned this truth the hard way. A resident of Sector 6 and working for a private firm, she had left home at 6.30pm and returned an hour later to find that her front door was opened and valuables stolen. The items included a 13-inch Macbook Pro, and a 14-inch Dell Latitude.

A week later, on July 25, 32-year-old engineer Piyush Makhija became a victim of theft. However, this time around, the place from where it was stolen was his car.

On July 23, he parked his Hyundai i10 at 6pm in front of Fernhill apartments in Sector 6 and left for some work. When he returned at 8pm to find that the left passenger window in front was smashed to steal his office bag containing valuables.

The stolen items included one HP laptop (his company’s), four branded watches and photocopies of important documents.

The cops have registered a case of theft, but warn everyone not to leave valuables in cars and homes. The thieves can strike anytime. Importantly, inform the cops when you leave home for an extended period. They will assign a beat cop to do a daily round of your street.

Nift College area is a hotbed for drug peddlers as several cases in the past have testified. It happened again recently, and this time, the cops caught one such alleged criminal on July 21 in an operation that began at 2.30pm and ended at 5.50pm.

HSR’s 27th Main, 18th Cross was the hub of all action in front of NIFT College. Under the guidance of HSR Layout inspector Raghavendra SR, labourer Rahul, a 22-year-old resident of Annasandrapalya, is the accused. The cops seized Rs 500 cash and 900 grams of cannabis (ganja) from him.

As per the procedure of the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS), 1985, a gazetted officer was called to physically inspect the accused for a free and fair witness account that the accused was indeed possessing narcotics on his person. If Rahul is convicted under the 20B section, a non-bailable charge, he could be imprisoned for up to 20 years and also pay a fine of up to Rs 2 lakh.

 

Thieves diverting attention and stealing phones, laptops and jewellery is well-known. However, the tactic is such that any person will succumb to it even now, like businessman Sajid Hussain realised it the other day.

On July 29 at 7.20pm, when he was driving his Maruti Swift car and approaching the 5th Main signal on Outer Ring Road, the Sector 1 resident found an unknown biker repeatedly hitting his car from behind. When he looked back, another stranger banged on the car’s passenger window with his hand. When Sajid rolled down his window to check who the persons are, the stranger put his hand inside and stole his iPhone 5SE 32GB phone.

This tactic is quite common in the last few years. It’s best to keep your phone on a stand rather than on the car seat. It’s even better to hide your phone and other valuables from open view. And better still, never roll down the window for anything. And if people try to bang on your car or repeatedly hit your vehicle, it’s best to use your phone and capture their faces and number plates on camera.

The HSR Layout cops have registered a case of theft and are investigating.

 

Based on a tipoff, the HSR Layout police swung into action on June 24 at around 6pm. The place was near Anjaneya swamy temple on 24th Main in Sector Agara, Sector 1.

Head constable Sardar Pasha took his men to arrest a person who was allegedly trying to sell stolen laptops in a cloth bag. When he saw the cops approaching him, he ran but was soon caught by the khaki-clad folks.

Upon enquiry, the man revealed his name as Govindappa, aged 45 years, and a resident of a village in Kolar district. The police recovered two Dell laptops and one Acer. When asked about their ownership, the accused was not to provide a satisfactory answer.

Suspecting them to be stolen, the cops took him to the station for further investigation.

If proven guilty, the accused could face a jail term lasting three years or a stiff fine or both.

 

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Almost ten months ago, we wrote that the much-touted cycle lane project for HSR Layout was delayed due to non-payment of bills. While only one bill is cleared, the rest of the bills are pending clearance. The reason is that the Department of Urban Transport (DULT) only cleared the bill for the work that was originally given to the contractor. However, the project work later involved doing up the pavements and drains, which escalated the original project cost and required a revised plan.

It was merely a practical decision. When the project was mooted in 2011, the drains and pavements were fine. However, when the track was being executed five years later, the drains and pavements needed a complete overhaul. Without these in shape, a cycle track did not make any sense. Which is why, the then additional chief secretary and DULT commissioner agreed to revise the design and budget. But now, with a new ACS and DULT commissioner, the project is back to square one as their lower-rung officers are yet to submit the revised design and budget estimates.  

In the meanwhile, an overzealous contractor who was assured by the then DULT commissioner and ACS took up the additional work of the drains and footpaths and even finished two-thirds of the lane project. However, when the bills were sent to DULT, they were rejected because the footpaths and drains were not part of the original plan.

This beats the citizens, because it is just a question of balancing the books. The money that DULT was supposed to give should now be given by BBMP for the additional works, if budgeting is really the constraint. However, sources tell us that the technical team at DULT is not keen on proceeding with the project as they have other priorities in mind. While both the additional chief secretary and DULT commissioners have changed, the problem is not with them; it’s with the people lower down the ladder. 

“One bill is still pending clearance,” says Panduranga, the contractor of the HSR project. “Another bill is yet to be submitted by us. The project is in limbo for one year now because DULT doesn’t seem to be interested in the HSR project. The misunderstanding between the original plan of 2011 was cleared in 2016 by then ACS and the then DULT commissioner had agreed to include the drains and footpaths in the new plan, so that is not really the problem today. It’s just that the DULT officials are not interested in this project anymore due to reasons best known to them.” 

Kavitha Reddy, a resident of HSR Layout and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson has written to V Ponnuraj, the new commissioner at DULT. “I was given to understand that with the knowledge of local elected representatives and ACS (additional chief secretary), the scope of the work was extended to include drain works and pavements, but unfortunately that was not documented and approved by DULT,” says Reddy. “The contractor has however gone ahead with the new specification, but since DULT has raised objections and not released any approval or payment as per new specifications, the work is completely halted. If this prestigious and path breaking project of DULT has to make an impact, the new specifications have to be considered too. I have also raised this issue with ACS, BBMP Commissioner and DULT staff. If BBMP has to take the cost of new specifications, then the same has to be discussed with BBMP Commissioner and also ACS if additional funds can be released to DULT from Urban Development.”

The width of the cycle lanes were also reduced to accommodate more traffic on the roads from 2.5 metres to 2 metres, but the project itself is in suspended animation. If all goes well, the cycle track will come up on a 9.7 kilometre stretch of the following roads: 14th Main, 17th Cross, 19th Main and 27th Main. According to the plan, all the signboards on these roads will change. With the cycle track on one side, there will be pelican signals (pedestrian light controlled crossing on poles installed on the footpath) for easy movement.