Police check on main roads, but residential areas at risk

Police check on main roads, but residential areas at risk
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Even as the city police have intensified night checking, robbers continue to strike at will in residential areas and get away. The police presence seems to be restricted only to the main roads.

On Wednesday night, at around 10 p.m., Mohammad Amir Khan, a software engineer who was walking towards his house was waylaid by two men in a lonely spot at HSR Layout, 6th Sector. The duo assaulted him and robbed his mobile phone and laptop worth Rs. 1 lakh.

When questioned, a police officer manning a nakabandi said there were at least three checkpoints on each road and even the residential areas were being checked. However, when this website’s newspaper team visited Koramangala, Jayanagar and Adugodi, it turned out that there were no nakabandis at these layouts and only the main roads were being monitored.

A resident of Koramangala III block, Chitra said: ‘‘It is a good move. But chain snatching usually happens in residential areas but I don’t see any policemen keeping a check here.’’

Motorists expressed anger over barricades on roads. Srinivas, a resident of Adugodi said: ‘‘The barricades placed on roads can be dangerous as they do not have any reflectors and hence not easily visible .’’

Two-wheeler riders seem to be the nakabandi targets. ‘‘Autorickshaws and cars are checked only after 9 p.m.,’’ a policeman said. According to police, the system is introduced on a trial.

A Jayanagar police officer said: ‘‘We have been asked to continue with nakabandis till May 10. A decision whether to continue regular checks will be taken later.’’