BENGALURU: Bengaluru police seem to be bringing back the 'trigger happy' culture in controlling the rowdy elements of the city. In the last seven months, there have been 15 cases of police encounters. Though there has been no death in these encounters, most of these have been like a 'warning' to the budding rowdies in the city. The seniors in the department have allegedly instructed the officers not to hesitate to open fire when it comes to self-defence.
"It is not intentional but there is a message which is conveyed whenever there's an encounter," agreed a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.
B K Shivaram, retired IPS officer, who was once known to be from the team of 'encounter specialists' said: "This could be an ugly and dangerous trend. As opposed to the intention of creating fear, this might actually turn otherwise when the criminals talk in prisons and probably even laugh about it."
This trend, he says, could also be a negative mark on the police officer if someone files a complaint. "A case of attempt to murder can be booked against them," he explained.
However, negating that B B Ashok Kumar, the retired IPS officer who was the first one to open fire in 1989 against the notiorious criminal Station Shekar, said: "It is good that police are making use of Section 99 and 100, under which, any person can open fire for self defence. It is absolutely necessary. This also sends a stern message to the recent underworld,"
Ashok Kumar feels that today's underworld is much more sophisticated unlike the old times. "They were man with muscles. They would just pounce on us and we would never get time to hit them on their leg, hand, shoulder etc. We would just open fire and we also had orders to kill them, if it comes to self defence."
The underworld now, according to a senior police officer, is more into real estate business. "There are no dons like how there used to be earlier. It is mostly these small-time goons, cheats who form a sort of 'pampering squad' to spread threat amongst public or businessmen about their bosses. The boss never comes out like in earlier days. However, we have been instructed to open trigger and I agree that it does create a threat among the young rowdies," explained another officer.
The audacity of youngsters these days is very high, said a police officer. "They don't bother about circumstances. From stabbing the policemen to pushing them into drains and also trying to shoot them, all this has been happening openly. The rowdies, mostly aged between 20 and 40 years, are extremely fearless. They try all the ways to evade arrests. If we open fire at least one round, others will get the message," he said.
There were only six encounters in 2016 while there were 22 encounters last year.
STATION SHEKAR, JULY 1, 1989 IN KAMMANAHALLI
First encounter in the city was done by B B Ashok Kumar and his team. Station Shekar was known as the right hand of Jayaraj. He had hacked his rival gangster Rajendra, outside the Bengaluru City Railway station in full public view. Police were hunting for him and on July 1 when he fired five rounds of bullet at the police in his residence, Ashok Kumar shot him dead.
DEADLY SOMA, JULY 8, 1994 ON OLD MADRAS ROAD
Soma alias Deadly Soma was killed after a dramatic chase by Abdul Azeem. Soma was a notorious gangster known for his dramatic killings. In an ambassador car, Abdul Azeem's team including officer Sangram Singh, dressed in civil clothes, chased an auto in which Soma and his gang were trying to escape. The autorickshaw in which the gang was travelling, was rammed by the car. When the gang members fell out of the toppled auto, Soma began to run. Sangram Singh and Azeem literally ran behind him till Ulsoor Cemetry when Soma tried to stab one of them with a dagger. That is when Abdul Azeem shot him dead.
SYED NASRU, MAY 8, 2005 IN ANEKAL
Nasru was a serial rapist and a thief. He was a big threat to the live band artistes. He was accused of raping 20 live band artistes. His gang also used to rob BPO staff. Each time the police tried to arrest him, he would escape. When he tried to attack police with machetes at his rented home in Anekal, B K Shivram opened fire at him. In this melee, another officer Ratnakar Shetty was attacked and sustained an injury on the neck.
ROWDY JOHNSON, FEBRAURY 2, 2006
Johnson was known for extortion. He tried to kill his rival rowdy Palani by barging into Hosmat Hospital. In a dramatic chase from Outer
Ring Road to Vyalikaval, CCB police gunned him down.
BATTANAGERE SEENA, SEPTEMBER 8,2012, HEROHALLI
Seena and his cousins were involved in the murder of his rival gang BML Krishnappa, a JD(S) leader. His gang had created havoc in the real estate world and Seena had managed to escape from the clutches of police. He was wanted in extortion cases too. He was tracked down to a house in Herohalli by Bengaluru District Police at Vinayaknagar in Herohalli.