In a perplexing turn of events, a newly erected BMTC bus shelter, valued at Rs 10 lakh, has mysteriously vanished just a week after its installation, raising serious concerns in the heart of Bengaluru. This remarkable incident unfolded on Cunningham Road, a bustling thoroughfare located behind the Bengaluru city police commissioner’s office, and situated a mere kilometre away from Vidhana Soudha, the state’s legislative assembly.
The disappearance of the bus shelter, constructed on August 21, remained undetected until August 28, when it was discovered missing. Astonishingly, it took a whole month for a complaint to be filed, which finally materialised on September 30. N Ravi Reddy, the associate vice-president of a company tasked with the responsibility of constructing BMTC bus shelters in the city, lodged the complaint with the High Grounds police, shedding light on the perplexing disappearance.
In his official complaint, Reddy elucidated, “We undertake the work of constructing bus shelters in the city for BBMP. Accordingly, we constructed this particular bus shelter (close to Coffee Day) on Cunningham Road on August 21. It was a stainless-steel structure. The cost of the shelter was Rs 10 lakh. However, on visiting the shelter on August 28, we found it missing. We enquired with BBMP officials and asked them whether they had any information on the removal of the shelter and they said no. Finally, we decided to lodge a police complaint.”
This incident has sparked an urgent police investigation, with a case being registered under Section 379 of the Indian Penal Code, which pertains to the punishment for theft. The disappearance of this significant bus shelter has sent shockwaves through the city, as it served as a crucial transit point for hundreds of daily commuters heading to various destinations including Lingarajapuram, Hennur, Banasawadi, Pulikeshinagar, Gangenahalli, Bhoopasandra, Hebbal, and Yelahanka.
The sudden disappearance of the bus shelter has left commuters in the lurch, with an old-fashioned bus shelter having been demolished a few months earlier to make way for the now-vanished stainless-steel structure. Passengers, concerned about their safety and comfort, expressed their dismay at the situation. “A newly built bus shelter took its place in August. Within days, it disappeared. We don’t know why it was removed. What if it rains now?” a woman passenger voiced her apprehensions. The current bus stop is now equipped with a smaller shelter that can accommodate no more than 20 passengers at a time, leaving many commuters exposed to the elements.
To shed light on this enigma, the police have taken swift action, gathering and scrutinising CCTV footage from nearby establishments. A police officer involved in the case remarked, “Most commercial establishments have CCTV footage that can store recordings for one month and it gets automatically deleted afterwards. Once we get the footage, we can trace the miscreants and crack the case.”
This is not the first instance of bus shelter theft in Bengaluru. Earlier in the year, similar incidents were reported in HRBR Layout and Kalyan Nagar. These shelters, constructed from stainless steel, are fetching an attractive price in the black market, making them a lucrative target for thieves.