Mugging in Bangalore roads - be careful! EDIT: More Incidents reported

[vasoo]

I will narrate an incident that happened to my friend recently at Sarjapur road at broad daylight.

Location: After the Sarjapur junction and after passing the Total mall, on the curve road which has lake on the right side (which has slightly less traffic and there are no shops or presence of public); direction is driving towards Sarjapur.

Time: about 1 PM

Sequence of events:

• A pedestrian is standing on the divider appearing to cross the road but is actually waiting for a lonely car driver.

• I allowed him to cross the road and after I passed him heard a thud, apparently he hit my back of car with something making it as if I have hit him and injured him.

• I did not stop the car, kept driving. After going little ahead, I see the guy whom I supposed hit as a pillion rider and another person next to my car on right side waving and shouting at me to stop saying I have injured the person. The “supposedly injured person” begins to act showing his leg that I have injured him and starts the drama as if he is in pain.

• I tell him using hand sign to pullover to the left footpath. I did not get out of the car and as soon as I saw them getting off their motorbike, I raced the car towards my office which was nearby. The guys on motorbike catch up me and start shouting again by coming next to me on the driver side window. I again ask them to pullover to the left and repeated the trick of racing when they are alighting from the motorbike and this time I am lucky and almost near to the office gate and rushed inside.

Two of his colleagues have already been duped and mugged by these folks. Those guys will ask you to take the injured person to the hospital in your car and two/three people will get into your car and then rip you off with whatever you have.

Request those who drive on these roads to be wary of such dramas.

[buz]

Just to add on to this - there is another ploy that people use to dupe you basis your vehicle. This happened in Gurgaon with one of my wife's colleagues. They call you on your landline and on picking up the phone, the first thing they ask is "Is this car no. XX-XX-XX-XXXX your car". Being fronted with a question like this even without a "hello" on the phone, one tends to say yes immediately without ascertaining the purpose and the source of the call. The moment one says "yes", they start saying that there is a police case lodged in XYZ thana for a hit and run case and that the so called victim is injured and requires medical attention. What ensues thereafter of course is any one's guess. Complicity of the police, RTO and these thugs. Poor guy had to fork out close to 25-30K just to rid himself off these people. Will strongly urge people to be mindful of such calls because they initially seem like call centre calls for on-road assistance services.

[kadri007]

The safe thing is drive down to nearest police station or a market place where there are decent place around you.

Else take a note of the vehicle number following you and immideately call police control room and pass on the information.

Dont get panicked. They may be a part of organised group to make people fool and take money away.

Such incidents are happening in the ORR regularly.

[aargee]

@Vasoo - Whoaa man, this is atrocious; hope some tauts from Chennai aren't reading this to start the drama here. Thanks for the warning & appreciate it. Like you said, if I too hear the thud sound & someone approaches me in a motorcycle, I would pull over innocently only to realize this drama. Worst part being, what if they push me down & drive away my car?

But did he not notice anything in the ORVM about the bikers falling down after the thud?

PS - Not to start a different topic, but, somewhere I remember reading a debate on stopping the car to help the victim versus running away to hid in a police station to accept the mistake & I was siding with helping the victim. Guess, time to change my thoughts.

[Spitfire]

Oh crap I just passed that place some weeks back. Good job by your friend.

Thanks for mentioning the incident on here. Will take care.

The thing to do during such incidents is if you are a eye witness side with the party who is in the right. Instead of driving off without caring for the others.

If more people start supporting the one in the right these scum will learn their lesson.

Its our indifference that such elements are preying on.

I understand this is happening in a less density area but they can very well pull this stunt on busy roads too.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Slightly OT:

I was in Bangalore months ago for the big bangalore jeep thrills OTR. I landed in the morning (5am) and was told to walk up outisde the airport and meet under the bridge.

The exact words used were: "Take a bus and get dropped outside the building. then walk a couple of kilometers in the opposite direction and if you don't get mugged on the way, we will see you under the bridge!"

A few bikers did slow down on seeing a lone guy with a haversack walking down the road in the dark early morning, but i guess they must have thought that i was a crazy bugger to do so and left me alone... lol

[mjothi]

What all innovative ideas these people come up with? As long as we have this HUGE gap between the poor & rich, it will never stop.

Its scary and that too in the noon.

[scopriobharath]

I would not stop at any cost. If i genuinely hit some one while driving a car, I will speed off to the nearest Police station and appraise of the situation.

If I were to stop, people will thrash me / abuse me and i will be the faulty one even if the Two wheeler / pedestrian was wrong.

I was going for an interview with Infosys (Chennai, Sholinganallur) and at thoraipakkam MNM Jain college, A two wheeler banged me from behind and fell down.

I was in a Santro. Public blamed me. Heck i was at 40 kmph following the speed limit and he was at around 60 kmph (I heard breakes screech). I was following the rule and He wasnt. If he had been riding at 40 kmph, he could have stopped in time. But still I was the one doing the wrong thing by the Indian Public.

I have noticed that public do not pay any heed to Police Warnings. Police often campaign not offer any lift to Strangers and When I stop at Madhya Kailash Signal during peak hours, i notice that many people (2W) offer lifts to strangers by not even looking at their face. They get carried away by good dress and good looks. Presentable Attire is as cheap as 500 bucks. The amount that they mugster would make will be much more

[vjoy3]

Reminds of my thoughts few years back when I read this article on how in some south american countries they carry dummy passengers to avoid such instances. Thought it would be safer here in India. Related link - Inflatable Car Buddy - How To Guides - DMV Guide

As safety measure, folks may consider having darker tints of film for their windsheild.

Vijay

[Gilead]

Originally Posted by aargee

@Vasoo - Whoaa man, this is atrocious; hope some tauts from Chennai aren't reading this to start the drama here.

There is a different kind of scam going on in Chennai. A bike rider will stop next to you at the signal and tap the window and say that oil is leaking underneath the car. Car driver pulls over to the side to check and the biker and his friend will come over to 'help' you as well. As soon as you stop the car and get out, they will quickly open the door and take away anything that they can carry, including laptops, mobiles and wallets. Then they speed away on the bike. Never keep a laptop in full view on the seats. Hide it in the boot or under the seats.

[funkykar]

Such a terrible thing. Cant just believe this happens during day light. All these days, I only believed it was happening during the wee hours of night. Always, good to stay alert!

Dummy passengers could be too much of a task atleast during day time. It could help during the night. Being alter and acting smart could help a lot.

[bbkp]

That scary - More when you are travelling alone

[MX6]

The more gullible one is, the easier target he/ she becomes. Time to get street smart. Hope this thread grows with experiences like these from various sources that will teach people how to be vary of these louts.

[download2live]

Originally Posted by mjothi

What all innovative ideas these people come up with? As long as we have this HUGE gap between the poor & rich, it will never stop.

Its scary and that too in the noon.

True. This gap is only going to get worse. We should brace ourselves for things much worse than these. Very scary. Especially if you don't know the regional language. Then in situation like this you are done for.

[RajeshK]

Vasoo, The same thing happened to my senior but the location was different. It happend in the Bannerghatta road joining Hosur road area (After the granite shops, the small bridge and before Anapalya Jn. There used to be dark always in the night). It was around 10:30pm. He didn't stop the engine, so the central locking was on. This saved him.

But when he start making loud noise, they hit on the windshield and left. Luckly nothing happend. Police case was registred, but every thing as usual. No further update on the case

Thanks
Rajesh