Bangalore: Unruly bikers rob and molest girls, stab boy near CM’s residence

Bangalore Mirror

Bangalore, 05 September 2011: It was around 1.15 am on Saturday. Two boys and two girls — all students of M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology — were returning home from a party at the Le Meridien Hotel. They were headed for a friend’s apartment located nearby to pick up their motorbikes. Suddenly, near the Windsor Manor junction, they were encircled by about 20 rowdy bikers — some of them in a drunken state. According to the police, they started teasing the girls, and slowly drawing closer, they molested them. One of the boys escorting the girls jumped to their rescue and got stabbed. The other boy too was roughed up. Before fleeing, the motorcycle gang stole all the valuables of the victims, the cops added.

 

All this happened just a stone’s throw away from chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda’s house. Matters could have turned worse, but thanks to the joint commissioner of police (crime), Pranob Mohanty, who lives in the vicinity, the police were promptly alerted. With the cops rushing in, the motorcycle gang fled.

With pressure coming right from the top, the police were on their toes. Result: 10 of the accused were traced and arrested on Sunday. The hunt is on for the remaining 10. The arrested, all of them hailing from well-to-do families, have been charged under section 395. It means they will have to be in prison for a minimum period of three months before bail is granted by courts. If convicted, the best case scenario would be 10 years behind bars; the worst could be life imprisonment.

 

Cornered near windsor manor:

The victims — Tripti, Anushka, Ananth Mangal and Umang Srivatsav — had been to a party at the Le Meridien. After it got over, they emerged from the hotel on Sankey Road. They were headed for an apartment complex near Windsor Manor, where they had parked their bikes. Suddenly, 20 bikers, who were racing and doing wheelies on the road, hedged them in.

 

They started teasing the girls. Encircling them, they closed down the gap and began molesting them. In his attempt to rescue the girls, Ananth got stabbed. Umang too was roughed up. One of the accused allegedly snatched Tripti’s gold chain and Anushka’s handbag, which contained credit and debit cards. Fearing for their lives, the students ran helter-skelter, screaming for help. A security guard of Summit Apartments, which faced the golf course, heard them and alerted all other guards in the vicinity.

 

One of the guards informed Mohanty, who lives in one of the nearby buildings. The joint commissioner alerted the police control room and summoned the local cops before rushing out himself to help the students. Sensing danger, the motorcycle gang fled. The victims were taken to the High Grounds police station for registering complaint. Mohanty told the police to ensure that the culprits were caught, even though none of the victims could describe their tormentors in detail.

 

Credit card gives culprits away:

To identify the culprits, assistant commissioner of police Omkaraiah began studying footage from the CCTV cameras installed by the traffic police at the Windsor Manor junction. But the real break came on Saturday when one of the accused used Anushka’s credit card at an ATM. Tracking that, police roped in 10 members of the biker gang from places likes Kumaraswamy Layout, J P Nagar and Jayanagar. 

 

“They are all spoilt brats from good families. Their parents are either businessmen or software professionals. We will reveal details once all the suspects are arrested,” an officer from High Grounds police station told Bangalore Mirror.

 

Omkaraiah said, “They molested the two girls and stabbed one of the boys accompanying them. Unruly bikers are a major problem on this road, especially on the stretch from Windsor Manor junction to the airport. They race and do wheelies after midnight when the road is relatively empty. We regularly receive complaints from local residents about this nuisance.”

 

Mohanty said, “I was alerted about the attack by the security guard in my apartment. I told the local police to treat it as a serious offence and be harsh on the culprits. They have been booked for dacoity.”

 

The police fear that such incidents will tarnish the city’s image. An officer said, “The attack took place in a VVIP area where the chief minister resides, and which has several five-star hotels. Had the victims been foreign tourists, ‘Brand Bangalore’ would have taken a severe beating. We have booked the accused in such a way that they will find it difficult to get bail for at least three months.”