BENGALURU: A car owner landed in trouble for leaving his pistol negligently on the dashboard of his car, that was dropped at a car accessories store on JC Road for fixing of floor mats and cooling paper. The vehicle was used by an employee of the shop to make reels, which were later tagged from his Instagram account ‘police car accessories’ to the X accounts of the Bengaluru City Police and its chief.
SJ Park police booked a case against car owner Sathish Babu BV, a resident of New Thippasandra, shop owner Mohammed Dastigar and employee Mohammed Tousif, after tracing the reel that was tagged to police X account. Sathish Babu moved a city court for anticipatory bail.
The public prosecutor stated that offences alleged against the petitioner are very serious and there is prima facie material against him. The reel depicts Tousif holding a pistol in his left hand and posting it on his Instagram account ‘police car accessories’ to the tune of a Punjabi song. The report also stated that on July 16, 2024, somebody tagged an Instagram reel to the ‘X’ accounts of the city police, and commented that “using a gun inside the police car, recording video and uploading is creating terror and fear”.
A preliminary inquiry disclosed that the pistol belonged to the petitioner, who stated that on July 13, about 1pm, he had kept his pistol, which had to be repaired, on the dashboard of his Hyundai Verna and left at the car shop to get the floor mat and cooling paper fixed.
He then went to Unity Building as he had a meeting with his auditor, returned around 4pm and gave his pistol for repair. Later, he came to know that the shop workers had taken the pistol, made reels and uploaded them on Instagram, which resulted in the crime being registered under the Arms Act against him, the shop owner and employee. He also produced a receipt by Aim Point, as proof of repair work done on the hammer of the pistol.
Sessions judge Jaishankar noted that there are no serious allegations against Babu, except that he had negligently kept his pistol in the car’s dashboard. The allegation is that it was used for making reels by the other accused, but not for committing any offence, the judge said, granting anticipatory bail to the petitioner.