Bangalore: How errant scooterists chased & robbed me

One of the scooterists came up to my left side and motioned to stop the vehicle – I did not stop the vehicle. He then proceeded to kick the vehicle about 4 times, causing damage and dent to the door panels.

BHPian ChristComesSoon recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Here's a harrowing freak incident that happened to me. I have left out most of the personally identifiable information & location references.

I got robbed and chased by miscreants - could have escalated to an ugly outcome.

I left my home at about 6:40 AM today 2023-10-20 Friday to go to my workplace. This is a route and commute that I have made regularly for nearly 7 years.

I was driving my car on the Hennur-Bagalur Main Road around Empire Restaurant Kothanur, Bangalore, at about 7:10, AM when I saw that there were 3 people on 3 scooters (one was white in color, another yellow, and the third a dark color) without helmets and shabbily dressed going very slow on the their scooters. They may have been around 19 to 25 years of age.

They were covering more than half the road and causing a traffic congestion. There were heavy vehicles like trucks going on the right lane of the road.

I sounded the car horn (short beep) so that they would give way. They did not give way. I sounded the car horn about 3 more times (in short bursts) and they reluctantly gave way.

I went on past them and proceeded onward till the next slow down on the road. These 3 scooters came up and now started blocking the road again. I sounded the car horn again. They gave way, but they were giving a chase now. I would have been going about 60 kmph.

One of the scooterists came up to my left side and motioned to stop the vehicle – I did not stop the vehicle. He then proceeded to kick the vehicle about 4 times, causing damage and dent to the door panels.

The other 2 scooterists came up on the right side, overtook me and stopped their scooters in the middle of the road, forcing me also to stop.

They came to my left and right side window and started shouting on why I had sounded the horn. I mentioned that I was on my way to work and that I sounded the horn so that they would give way.

While I was turned to the right window, I did not realize that the person on the left reached in through the left window and stole my phone which was on the passenger seat.

I lost my phone and sustained dents to the car due to these unruly rowdies on the road. I realized I had lost my phone only after reaching my workplace. Unfortunately, in all of the mental stress, I had not noted the registration number of these vehicles, neither did I have a dashcam installed.

Going to the Cops

The same day, in the evening, I went along with 2 of my friends (a Kannada-speaking couple, one a lawyer). I recounted my ordeal to the police inspector available.

He basically talked me out of filing an FIR, saying it's a long process and nothing would come out of it and that it would require a court visit, etc.

Instead, they raised something called an ~NCRT report to block the SIM of the phone, which was stolen by one of the miscreants in that incident.

And another document (forgot what it is called), to try to get insurance cover for the damage to my vehicle. Which he also said is likely not to be honored by insurance companies, since this is technically not an "accident".

Both these documents actually don't address the actual problem.

In that incident, there was a chase that lasted for at least 4 to 6 kilometers. We asked the police to access CCTVs of shops / establishments on the road - and they just couldn't be bothered with that much work.

In fact they asked me to check with the shops myself! The audacity!

In my incident of that day, I held back as much as I could so as not to escalate the situation. Also if it had come to a physical confrontation - though "I think" I could have overpowered the 3 lawless wicked people, I didn't know if they were carrying any weapons. So just didn't give an opportunity for it to escalate.

Here's what BHPian saket77 had to say on the matter:

Someone wrote earlier I guess that either these incidents are becoming more and more common in Bangalore or we have TBHP folks from Bangalore in majority, hence we read more about such incidents at the place. I am also reading more and more of such incidents in B'lore. A dashcam is now a must have; else we just saw what help you can receive from the police.

Here's what BHPian Red_Liner had to say on the matter:

One has to ponder over things like this. When one comes across possible miscreants in 2 wheelers or 4. What has that person got to lose from an altercation with me? And what have I got to lose from an altercation with them?

In every single instance that I have asked myself this question, it was always me that came out the loser by a big fat margin.

Hence, in your case 1 honk should have sufficed. After which music in your car and a leisurely drive to your destination would have worked better. I know in hindsight all of us can come up with better solutions. But your incident will probably act as a good alert for many of us here and hopefully we will ask: who comes out worse in this possible altercation?

Here's what BHPian saisree had to say on the matter:

I know this is going to be humiliating and going to give you sleepless nights for some time now. Smoothen your senses and try to turn your concentration on something else.

Unless you have a great backing, police will not give you any look and action. They are overburdened with many things already and instances like these are very small for them.

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