Bengaluru: Volunteer helps nab inter-state gang

BENGALURU: An alert volunteer of community policing in Madiwala police limits helped police nab a four-member, inter-state gang of robbers from Tamil Nadu. It was a usual night of patrolling on June 16 for Kiran, a 32-year-old resident of JP Nagar, who volunteers for community policing. He was at HSR Layout along with head constable Kumar and two beat constables Muralidhar and Brijesh when they came across a gang of five robbers.

The Suraksha Mitra was checking vehicles near Green View Medical Centre around 9 pm when the gang moving around suspiciously in the area caught his attention. Kiran stopped an autorickshaw, in which the four men were travelling. When Kiran approached the auto, the gang members were trying to hide their faces and asking the auto driver to speed away.

Kiran told Deccan Chronicle, “We conduct awareness programmes twice a day, educating residents on how to safeguard themselves against chain-snatchers and other miscreants. After one such programme on June 16, I, Head Constable Kumar and Police Constables Muralidhar and Bramesh were standing near Green View Medical Centre in HSR Layout when we got information that a number of chain-snatching incidents were recorded that day in the city. We were patrolling the streets and also checking autos to make sure that no anti-social elements were loitering about in the neighbourhood. We came across one auto with four passengers who were trying to dodge. We immediately grew suspicious.”

When Kiran asked the auto driver to stop and questioned the gang members, he noticed that one of the gang members was carrying a bag. “Their body language indicated that something was amiss. They were not looking at us and were dodging our questions. The man carrying the bag was trying to hide it from us. When we asked them to get down from the vehicle, two of them started running,” said Kiran. Kiran and a constable chased the duo. One of the gang members ran towards Gunduthopu and the constable chased him, while the other ran towards a big slum in HSR Layout.  “I knew if he got into the slum, it would be difficult to catch him. I waned to stop him before that,” Kiran said.

“I was on my bike and I caught hold of his collar. I asked him to sit on my bike, or I would beat him up. He relented and I quickly rode back to the constables standing at the junction. All the four were handed over to the police,” said Kiran.

The HSR Layout police during the interrogation learnt that the gang members were carrying Rs 1 lakh cash, which they had stolen from a bank. “They were planning to carry out similar robberies. The robbers were carrying a bunch of blank papers with Rs 500 note on top of them to divert the attention of the people and dupe them. The gang members revealed details of their accomplices, who have been apprehended. The gang members are said to be from Tamil Nadu," the police said.

DCP congratulates Suraksha Mitra

DCP South-East Rohini Katoch Sepat congratulated Suraksha Mitra Kiran for his presence of mind and persistence in nabbing the offenders. “This is one of the success stories of the community policing initiative in the city. The community policing project which began with seven police stations has now scaled up to seven more police stations in the city,” she said. Area Suraksha Mitra Mobilisation is under way in Kodigehalli, Tilak Nagar and HAL police stations.