B’luru: Home Guard attached to BBMP harasses Delhi woman for sitting with male friend at lake
Accused Manjunath Reddy arrested by Bengaluru Police
Bengaluru: A BBMP employee was on Tuesday arrested for impersonating a cop and harassing a Delhi woman for sitting "without permission" near the Kundanahalli Lake with her male friend here on Sunday, 29 January.
The arrested accused have been identified as Manjunath Reddy V, who works for Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike.
The Delhi woman, who identifies herself as Arsha Latif on Twitter had posted a thread of tweets on Monday adding that the person wearing police clothes had harassed them and had made them pay a fine for “sitting without permission” at a public place. She had also accused him of moral police.
“Traumatic experience during visit to BLR. During afternoon, on 29/1/23 my male friend & I visited Kundanahalli Lake to sit in the shade & enjoy the view. A cop started clicking our pictures and started harassing us that we did not have the 'permission' to sit there while there were clearly benches beside us to sit for the general public. He started interrogating us about our jobs, hometown, our purpose of visit and said that we will have to come to the police station with him and pay a fine on grounds of 'sitting' without permission.
“When we asked what we had done wrong, he said you are not allowed to sit here without permission & you may be smoking here. We told him we don't have any cigarettes & we're just sitting here peacefully but he kept on interrogating us as to what the two of us were up to and that we cannot be together and sit there without permission. He then insinuated that he will take us to the police station and his senior will deal with us, but it's best to "settle the matter here" because he speaks a little Hindi but his senior only speaks Kannada.
“Ultimately he asked us to pay him off Rs. 1000 to let us go. Absolutely appalled by such behaviour. Why did we have to put up with this moral policing for literally doing nothing wrong? Why did this cop think he holds a right to harass two people like this for 'sitting without permission' at a public lake & extract money simply because they aren't of the same gender? Attaching a picture of his number plate, requesting @BlrCityPolice to pls take action” (sic) the woman had written in her tweet and had also posted a picture of the number plate of the man’s vehicle.
On Tuesday afternoon, the woman posted an update regarding the same adding that the Bengaluru Police had arrested the accused and thanked the city police for prompt action.
“UPDATE: I have received an update that the identified person Manjunath Reddy V has been arrested. He works for BBMP- Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike & was impersonating the police to extort money. Thank you @BlrCityPolice for escalating the matter & taking swift action.” She posted in her tweet on Tuesday.
In the tweet thread, several Bengaluru people expressed similar concerns adding that such incidents of people impersonating cops to extort money and harass people have been on the rise bringing bad repute to the city. Several people also accused the city police officials of being involved in such activities as extorting money and harassing people in the streets.
Traumatic experience during visit to BLR. During afternoon, on 29/1/23 my male friend & I visited Kundanahalli Lake to sit in the shade & enjoy the view. A cop started clicking our pictures and started harassing us that we did not have the 'permission' to sit there (1/6) pic.twitter.com/4KKMOT0ny7
— Arsha Latif (@ArshaLatif) January 30, 2023
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
244 Maoists, 154 gangsters arrested by Jharkhand Police in 2024
Ranchi (PTI): The police have claimed that it made significant strides in addressing the menace of Left Wing extremism in 2024, arresting 244 Maoists, including key leaders.
Among those arrested were one Special Area Committee (SAC) member, two zonal commanders, six sub-zonal commanders, and six area commanders.
IG (Operations) AV Homkar said that the police picked up SAC member Jaya Di alias Chinta, Shambhu Ganjhu alias Ravi Ganjhu, a zonal commander with a Rs 10 lakh reward on his head, and Sitaram Rajwar alias Raman Rajwar, also carrying a Rs 10 lakh bounty.
Several extremists from the Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC), a splinter group of the CPI (Maoist), were also arrested, including Adesh Kumar Ganjhu, Sabita Sharma alias Raja Ji, and others, carrying a total reward of Rs 36 lakh, he said.
The police also arrested 154 members of various criminal gangs during the year.
"In 2024, 24 Maoists surrendered, including four zonal commanders, one sub-zonal commander, three area commanders, and one member," he said adding that nine Maoists were killed in police encounters, while the authorities recovered 123 weapons, including 35 looted police firearms, seven standard weapons, and 81 locally made firearms.
Police also seized 246.40 kg of explosives, and Rs 13.39 lakh collected as levy. Furthermore, 239 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted by Maoists were destroyed by the police, a statement from police headquarters claimed.
On the cybercrime front, Jharkhand Police registered 1,295 cases, leading to 971 arrests.
The authorities recovered 2,118 mobile phones, 2,905 SIM cards, 606 ATM cards, 165 bank passbooks, and 52 laptops, among other items.
"Cash recoveries amounted to Rs 8.17 crore, and Rs 77.20 lakh was frozen in bank accounts. A significant tool in combating cybercrime was the Pratibimb App, which helped register 274 cases and led to the arrest of 898 individuals. Through these efforts, Rs 66.43 crore was frozen in bank accounts, and Rs 3.27 crore was returned to victims," the statement said.
In anti-drug operations, police arrested 1,362 individuals involved in drug-related offences.
Police claimed the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) also made strides, arresting four operatives linked to Al Qaeda.
Along with these arrests, ATS seized Rs 1.22 crore in cash and Rs 15 lakh worth of jewellery.
Homkar said Jharkhand Police also focused on the well-being of their personnel and organised Public Grievance Resolution Programmes across all districts.
