The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Crime on roads rising

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 01, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Crime on roads rising

Cases of people being waylaid and robbed of cash and valuables have almost become common in the city, writes K.V. Subramanya

EVEN AS the Bangalore police claim that they have taken steps to check crime on the roads, there is no let up in incidents of chain snatching and robbery. The number of such incidents is increasing, raising fear among the public.

Cases of people being waylaid and robbed of cash and valuables and youths, riding on motorcycles, snatching mobile phones and gold chains have almost become common in the city.

Armed men have mainly waylaid and robbed people returning home late in the night.

In some cases, autorickshaws drivers themselves have robbed their passengers. Such incidents have been reported not only from residential areas and new layouts on the outskirts of the city but also from the central areas.

Referring to such crimes, Commissioner of Police Neelam Achuta Rao said he had taken a serious note of chain snatchings, robberies on road and activities of organised gangs.

"At a meeting of the deputy commissioners of police (DCPs) held on Thursday, I advised them to devise a system to keep a tab on gangs involved in robberies and chain snatchings. The DCPs have also been told to intensify patrolling and conduct `nakabandi,'" Mr. Rao said.

While the number of robberies and chain snatching has been increasing over the years, there has been a spurt in such cases in the past one month. On Sunday night, for instance, armed men waylaid Sunil Kumar, manager of a wholesale biscuit company, and robbed him of Rs. 1 lakh in cash and a mobile phone at knifepoint in Byappanahalli police station limits.

The same night two software engineers, who took a lift from International Technology Park Ltd. (ITPL) in a multi-utility vehicle, were robbed by the driver and his three accomplices in Ramamurthynagar police station limits.

Armed men waylaid two software engineers, Gita Das and Kiran, and robbed them of gold ornaments, mobile phones and cash in separate incidents reported from Vasanthanagar and Hosur Road on June 22 and 23. Chandrashekar and his wife Lalitha were waylaid and robbed of cash and a mobile phone by armed youths in Kengeri on June 4.

On June 9, Yeshas, a pre-university student, who boarded an autorickshaw at the Kempe Gowda bus station, was robbed of his mobile phone and cash by the driver and his accomplices on reaching Jayanagar.

The police say that such crimes are mainly taking place during late night on desolate roads.

Many new gangs, mainly comprising youngsters, have taken to such crimes and the police are after them. The focus now is on preventing robberies and mobile phone/chain snatching cases as other crimes, particularly murders and burglaries, have come down, they say.

While the number of such incidents is increasing, the detection rate has also gone up considerably. In several cases, the victims as well as passers-by have acted swiftly and caught the criminals.

The victims should immediately alert the police after the incident, as this will help in arresting the robbers. In many cases, the victims inform the police hours after the incident and this hampers search operations, the police say.

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