A haven for criminals

A haven for criminals

According to a senior police official there have been cases of criminals summoning their target to the desolate campus during the night and murdering him there

The Hindu

THE ROBBERY that took place on the Jnana Bharathi campus on Wednesday night has again showed that the sprawling campus continues to be a safe place for criminals to carry out their activities.

Three men kidnapped a Mumbai-based electrician from the Majestic area in an autorickshaw, took him to the Jnana Bharathi campus and robbed him of Rs. 7,000 in cash after assaulting him near the Physical Education Department.

Shocking incident

Over the years several crimes such as rape, murder, chain snatching and robbery have been reported from the Jnana Bharathi campus, and the most shocking of them was the gangrape of a married woman by taxi drivers in April 2005.

In the most sensational incident, criminals had brought the body of a man they had murdered elsewhere and set it afire on the campus, a few hours before the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited the campus to inaugurate the 90th Indian Science Congress on January 3, 2003.

Though the elite Special Protection Group and the city police had cordoned off the campus area and conducted security checks on January 2, criminals had hoodwinked the security personnel, brought the body and set it on fire on the night of January 2 near the Gandhi Smarak Bhavan on the Sports Authority of India Road on the campus.

According to a senior police official there have been instances of criminals summoning their enemy to the vast, wooded and desolate campus during the night and murdering him there.

Desolate area

The desolate wooded areas on the campus are rendezvous for young lovers who stay there till late in the night.

Such lovers are becoming the soft targets of chain snatchers and robbers, he said.

Following Wednesday's robbery, the police have devised a new security system for the campus. Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) K.V. Sharathchandra said that since Thursday night a police constable, along with a Home Guard hired by Bangalore University, is being posted at each of the five entrances to the campus.

They will be guarding the entrances till daybreak.

Plea to VC

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Kengeri Gate) on Thursday met Vice-Chancellor Ranganath and requested him to get gates installed at all the five entrances and also take up construction of the compound. The Vice-Chancellor agreed to the suggestion, he said.

Though the university posts 22 Home Guards on the campus every night, they have not been able to patrol the nearly 2,000-acre campus, Mr. Sharathchandra said.

Patrolling

Patrolling the Jnana Bharathi campus has become a Herculean task even for the police as nearly 40 per cent of the area in the West division of the city police falls under the jurisdiction of the Jnana Bharathi police station.

It includes several new private and Bangalore Development Authority layouts, ring roads and villages on the outskirts of the city.

There is a thoroughfare to Mallathalli and Mysore Road thorough the campus.

Entry on these two roads should be restricted, the Jnana Bharathi police feel.