BENGALURU: The residents of Indiranagar are protesting against an FIR filed against them by traffic police for allegedly damaging the footpath during a tree plantation drive on 100 Feet Road. They have alleged that the traffic police are misusing their power and intimidating residents. ICIN said, “A plantation drive was planned on 100 Feet Road in Indiranagar on October 2, and work was to start on October 1. But it was found that the footpath was used for parking.
The issue was raised with the Inspector and ACP, Traffic (east) Kavitha. But the ACP said that pedestrians need only three feet space to walk and the rest of the space can be used for parking. Not impressed, we escalated the matter to DCP (east) Narayan and Joint Commissioner Ravikanthe Gowda, who got the vehicles cleared from the footpath. While the event on October 2 went on smoothly, a complaint was filed against our members.”
ICIN members said that earlier, the police had said that it was only a non-cognisable offence complaint, and only on October 20, they got to know it was an FIR. “We have recorded a conversation with the police and BBMP, assistant engineer, Domlur, Lakshmanappa, where they have stated that the complaint was filed at the behest of ACP.
They are not even sharing the FIR copy and have asked us to file an RTI to get it. We requested that the complaint be dropped. But the inspector said that he will discuss the matter with the higher-ups,” the member said. The police have named Nandihal as an accused. The complainant is BBMP Assistant Engineer Lakshmanappa. Despite repeated attempts, ACP Kavitha’s pnone was not reachable and DCP Narayan’s number was switched off.