Bengaluru: The city is seeing a new kind of brazen robbery on the streets with bike- borne thieves knocking down pedestrians, especially late at night and fleeing with any valuables they may drop.
The latest victim is Mr Vijay Vishveshwar, who works with a leading newspaper organisation in the city. Knocked down by a biker as he was trying to book a cab home late at night outside the Koramangala Bus Depot near his office on Wednesday, Mr Vishveshwar was robbed of his smart phone he happened to drop as he fell.
Recounting the incident on Thursday, he said, “After finishing work I was standing near the Koramangala bus depot looking for the cab I had booked, when I was knocked down by a biker. As I fell, he quickly reached out for my mobile phone which fell to the ground and sped away with it. I suspect he targeted me after watching my daily routine for a few days.”
Although Mr Vishveshwar has not yet lodged a complaint with the Koramangala police about the incident, a police official acknowledges that it is not the first robbery of its kind in the city. Revealing that people working in night shifts were being targeted the most, he said, “These kind of night thefts are more common in areas near slums. It’s usually school and college dropouts who are responsible.” Other thefts growing increasingly common in the city involve high end bikes costing over Rs 1 lakh, metal benches at bus stops, signages and even pavement blocks, according to him.
“Preventing these kind of thefts has become increasingly difficult even with night patrolling,” he lamented.
