Bengaluru: New gang of psychopaths on the prowl?

Bengaluru: The two men, who are caught in the CCTV footage molesting a girl at around 2.30 am on January 1 near 5th Main Road, Kammanahalli, Bengaluru (East) are reportedly the new breed of psychopath gangsters, who are on the prowl targeting lone women on city streets at night. They are two-wheeler-borne criminals, who shadow, attack, molest and rob hapless women and dump them on the road.

“The Kammanahalli case will drive the police to revisit the earlier two cases last year in the city in which two lone girls were attacked and robbed by unknown men. While one incident was in August in which a young fashion consultant was dragged on the road and robbed of her valuables at around 1 am under the Jeevan Bima Nagar police limits by two-wheeler-borne miscreants, the other was around the same time in the Madiwala police limits in which a young woman escaped from being abducted by her predators late evening. There is some commonality in all the three cases - of the accused, the target, modus operandi and the time of the crime. The accused in the all the three cases seem to be local people, because they know their entry and escape routes," said an officer on condition of anonymity.

He said in the Kammanahalli case, the CCTV footage shows that the accused were positioned behind the auto in which the victim was travelling with her friend. "It is clear that the girls were being followed from the place where they had reportedly gone to celebrate the New Year's party. The scooterists had stopped behind the autorickshaw, allowed the first passenger to get off and walk down the lane and then accosted the victim, who was by then aware that she was being followed and that the two men didn't have good intentions," he said.

"She stopped for a while and picked up pace to reach her house in the lane, but midway she was caught by the pillion rider, who groped and molested her. She resisted him but his grip was strong. He then pulled her to his friend on the driver's seat and she was again molested. When she resisted them again they threw her on the ground but not before robbing her of her wallet. They are not ordinary criminals. They are predators with strong psychopathic tendencies and they are local people because they know the area, finish their job in minutes and escape. In the Kammanahalli case, the passive role of onlookers also suggests that they could be local people," the officer said.

Meanwhile, the police are trying to identify the victim after the owner of the house, where the CCTV camera was mounted, reportedly told the cops that the victim and her friend were not his tenants and that he had never seen them before. "The girls in the CCTV footage are seen walking inside the lane but they don't stay there. We are trying to locate them. No one has come forward to give a complaint. It is important for the police to track the victim," said another officer on condition of anonymity.

Cops didn’t help me: Brigade Rd victim
As incidents of molestation of women on New Year's Eve in the city continue to surface, another victim has come forward to share her horrific experience on Brigade Road on the night that shamed the city.

Speaking to a news channel, she said, "I saw men staring at me, and I stood by so that they could pass. But one of them suddenly groped me and I went completely blank. When I finally realised what happened, I went back to the guy and started hitting him and punching him and did whatever I could do to vent my anger. After sometime, 15-20 men came and they tried to stop me instead of catching hold of the attacker. They told me, 'This is New Year, these things happen. Let it be'."

On the security arrangements, she said, "Some 10 policemen were standing at a distance. They stood rooted to the spot, and never came to my rescue or asked me what the issue was!"