BENGALURU: Last week’s incident involving a mentally-ill man sneaking into the ladies quarter at Baiyappanahalli Metro station was not the only bizarre incident to have taken place inside the property of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd recently. It has now come to light that a pooja ritual has been performed outside the shutters of one entrance of the Sandal Soap Metro station, which officials suspect could be an instance of ‘black magic’ being performed here.
According to reliable sources, the pooja had been performed between 1.32 am and 3.15 am on December 19. “It is the handiwork of an unknown person. The items that was used made us suspect it could be black magic,” said a top official.
He added, “After assessing that suspicious or dangerous items were found, the security staffers informed Operations Centre at Baiyappanahalli and removed it.”
Asked how the performance of a ritual for nearly two hours by someone went unnoticed by the security staff present round-the-clock at Metro stations, an official said, “All security personnel are generally present inside the station only during night hours.”
Details of the incident have been shared across all Metro stations to alert all staffers.
In another strange incident last week, three housekeeping women, who had gone out post midnight to sweep footpaths along the Kempe Gowda Metro station and dispose of garbage, came running in panic. “They told us they were chased by transgenders and came running back to the station,” said a security official. “A group of transgenders reached shortly and claimed the staff stole their purses. Finally, security staff pacified both sections and downed the shutters,” he added.
Fencing, CCTV at quarters
In light of a man trespassing and scaring Metro’s women loco pilots in the staff quarters, BMRCL has begun the work of putting up barbed steel fencing above the existing low compound wall, said Executive Director, Operations and Maintenance, A S Shankar. “We also plan to install CCTVs in our staff quarters,” he said.
Asked about the progress over the trespassing issue, Baiyappanahalli police said they were still conducting inquiries with those in the vicinity. “No one has reported seeing the man. The lady has also seen him only in the dark.”