HSR police refuse to register FIR for mobile snatching, but not when it’s one of their own!

January 12, 2021December 24, 2018 by RW News Network

Several residents have complained that the HSR Layout police are refusing to register complaints of mobile snatching as a First Information Report (FIR). However, the other day when a senior cop’s phone was snatched away by miscreants on a bike, the cops not only registered his complaint but also arrested habitual offenders to check if any of them had stolen the top cop’s phone. After all, it was a prestige issue for the department now.

HSR police refuse to register FIR for mobile snatching, but not when it's one of their own! 2

On December 20 at around 8.45pm, IPS officer Sanjay Sahay (55 years) was taking a stroll on 17th Cross in Sector 4 when two bike-borne thieves snatched his mobile and fled before he could do anything. The Additional Director General of Police, Police Computer Wing, filed a complaint and the FIR was promptly accepted by the HSR cops on December 21. The top cop lost his OnePlus 6 phone costing around Rs 40,000.

BE MORE RESIDENT-FRIENDLY, PLEASE!

If the rules are applied to everyone, we would have a more robust way of tackling cases, whether it’s due to the victim’s negligence (keeping the door open; wearing a necklace or talking on phone while on the road) or an actual case of theft or robbery.

We have also come across cases where many cybercrime cases are also refused by the HSR police station for the same reason. “The cops say that they lack expertise and cannot do much about recovery,” said one resident whose laptop and phones were robbed from her house when her door was open. “They give their own reasons for not filing an FIR like they are understaffed and have more crucial jobs to do like investigating murders, dacaoities, and so on.”

Another theft occurred in a shop in Sector 1. “The thieves had cut the grill and come through the ventilator window,” said the shopkeeper. “They stole Rs 1,500 cash and the CCTV receiver costing about Rs 7,500. Since the amount was less, the cops convinced me that I should not file an FIR.”

It’s true that the cops are under-staffed. And that has been the case for the last several decades. Now that it has become the norm, that is no excuse either. But what do the cops do now for chain snatching, mobile snatching and even petty theft cases? They just give an acknowledgement and never pursue the case, allege residents. With an FIR, the cops have to open the case as it has to go to court, if only to close it later. But that will reflect badly in the overall statistics. Therefore, this is the police’s way of skewing the statistics. This is not just with HSR but across the city and country. That’s why we should always assume that all the crime statistics revealed by the cops are under-reported, particularly the petty crimes.

On this site, garbage is being burnt every day! Is BBMP the culprit?

January 12, 2021December 24, 2018 by RW News Network

This is the empty land opposite The Cambridge International School on Silver County Road in HSR extension. Residents have reported that garbage is burnt regularly out here for the last seven to eight months. But the BBMP health inspector of the area expresses helplessness as the area does not belong to the BBMP. However, the residents allege that they have spotted several BBMP garbage autos dumping garbage on roadsides (Kasavanahalli Road near Amrutha College) and even part of the dumping on this vacant land in Shantigram panchayat. This is a serious issue as the fence is eating the crop here. When BBMP is supposed to prevent garbage burning, its contractors are perpetrating it in non-BBMP jurisdictions.

On this site, garbage is being burnt every day! Is BBMP the culprit? 4

On this site, garbage is being burnt every day! Is BBMP the culprit? 5

“The burning is not only here… there are many such spots. No use, no one can help. Just suffer,” says a dejected resident Prejith. “Some death should happen. Only then, someone will open their eyes. It’s a complex issue. I have seen BBMP mini autos filled with waste coming this side for dumping.”

Resident Laly Randolf says, “We will find a way out… though may not be immediate or very effective in the beginning. Deep rooted issue… uprooting will take time.”

Kasavanahalli resident activist Vishnu Prasad said, “The BBMP said they can’t act, but will issue letter to the panchayat.”

The residents are not stopping at this. On Twitter, they are reaching out to D Randeep, BBMP Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) through videos and photos. “Tweets have more visibility and (looks like) more accountability,” says Laly.

Another resident on condition on anonymity had much to reveal about the nefarious state of affairs around this area of Choodasandra, Rayasandra and Shantigram. “The BBMP is not taking waste from the Kasavanahalli area; they are giving this work to the local people who are cleaning up both the BBMP and gram panchayat areas like Choodasandra and Rayasandra. These people have many tractors and collect waste from many apartments for a price. These are the rohingyas who have built tents and living here with their families. They collect the waste from surrounding areas and dump it in the 1-2 acre land here. Once the waste is dried over 3-4 days, they take away the ones that can be recycled and burn the rest at night around 10.30pm or 11pm.”

Another resident attested to this by saying, “They pour kerosene and diesel and burn the garbage every night. The smell is in the air. Kasavanahalli residents are breathing toxic air all night. You can see the heavy, dark smole even till 7am as the garbage is still burning. After one year of constant exposure to this might make every child have asthma or other breathing problems.”

The residents allege that the garbage contractor is dumping the wet waste in isolated areas and getting benefitted. So is the person collecting the recyclable waste. Although the residents have complained the state pollution control board and the cops, nothing concrete has ever come out of it. The burning continues unabated.

How to clean up your house without an air purifier!

January 12, 2021December 24, 2018 by RW News Network

The 2.5 micron particulate matters rose to 157 AQI (air quality index) at 8am today. However, residents who are monitoring the air quality in HSR Layout tell us that even if the pollution is high during the day, you can beat it with some nifty measures.

How to clean up your house without an air purifier! 7

How to clean up your house without an air purifier! 8

Don’t want to invest in an air purifier as you don’t have people with breathing issues, no problem. “Just open your doors and windows during non peak hours for about 20 minutes,” says Shashank A. “The stale air goes out and the fresh air comes in. This itself drastically brings down the air pollution indoors to the safe levels.”

Another resident learnt this lesson the hard way. “We kept the doors and windows closed while switching on the air purifier,” says Uma K. “The PM2.5 levels have gone up to 184 AQI indoors both during the morning and night. Then, I read about how you should keep your doors open for a while in Residents Watch channel.”

The next day, she kept the doors open between 3.30pm-4pm, the time we had specified to be the best time for purer air compared to the mornings and nights. “It was like magic,” says Uma. “The AQI levels are now down to less 100 (which is ‘safe’) even when I keep the door to my room open. Which means, the AQI is he same across my house even without activating the air purifier.”

There you have it. You don’t have to use the air purifier often. However, if you have sensitive people with breathing disorders living in your house, an air purifier is a must. Otherwise, just aerating your indoors once in the day should be enough.

As you can see from the readings recorded at the Silk Board junction (the nearest place to HSR Layout has a government-certified pollution monitor), the levels are below 100 AQI, which are ‘safe’. So open your doors for a while and let the outside air purify your indoors.

Cycling has begun inside Agara Lake premises

January 12, 2021December 24, 2018 by RW News Network

The ban on cycling inside Agara Lake premises is lifted. However, the park authorities don’t want too many cyclists or cycle rentals to operate inside the park premises due to haphazard dumping of vehicles by cyclists and injuring walkers.

Cycling has begun inside Agara Lake premises 10 — Cyclists dumping the bikes haphazardly

Cycling has begun inside Agara Lake premises 11 — Cyclists spoiling the walking track, particulary when it’s wet

There have been several calls made to the police by the walkers regarding these injuries, and therefore, the park caretakers want only the ones responsible for their cycle and cyling to enter the premises.

Therefore, we request the cyclists, and particularly the hobbyists to be more responsible while cycling inside the lake premises. Don’t drop off your vehicle only at the designated spots. Use only the cycle track for the purpose. Some cyclists are complaining that the cycle track is too narrow, which compels them to take the path meant for walkers. The caretakers retort that the cyclists should have complained when the park was being revived. The argument continues.

Cycle track work delaying speedbreaker work in HSR!

January 12, 2021December 24, 2018 by RW News Network

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.

Cycle track work delaying speedbreaker work in HSR! 13

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.”

Pavement parking: Is it no offence?

January 12, 2021December 21, 2018 by RW News Network

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.

Cops refuse to take theft complaint; resident forces them to

January 12, 2021December 21, 2018 by RW News Network

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.

Cops refuse to take theft complaint; resident forces them to 18

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.

Second theft of electronic goods in a fortnight; door was kept open

January 12, 2021December 20, 2018 by RW News Network

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.

Second theft of electronic goods in a fortnight; door was kept open 20

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.

BBMP issues notice to HSR resident for ‘rearing and selling’ cats

January 12, 2021December 20, 2018 by RW News Network

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).

BBMP issues notice to HSR resident for 'rearing and selling' cats 22

FREAK ACCIDENT: Sector 3 resident comes under the train and dies!

January 12, 2021December 19, 2018 by RW News Network

Spurned lover stabs girl and kills her boyfriend; goes behind bars for 10 years

January 12, 2021December 19, 2018 by RW News Network

Rs 50,000 worth narcotics seized near NIFT college

January 12, 2021December 19, 2018 by RW News Network

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.

Rs 50,000 worth narcotics seized near NIFT college 28 — 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.