BENGALURU: In a failed robbery bid, a 35-year-old Quality Analyst in an IT firm was punched twice on the face inside the Sir M Visvesvaraya railway station in Baiyappanahalli when he was on his way to board the Kannur Express on Thursday evening.
Despite a day after the incident and Deekshith Shettigar reaching out to the Government Railway Police (GRP) on social media, no cop has a clue about it.
He also reached out to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on X following which the Railway Protection Force has now taken note of the issue.
Reliving the incident, a traumatised Shettigar told TNIE, “It was around 7 pm and I had arrived by foot from Maruti Seva Nagar to the SMVT station to depart for Mangaluru."
He said that the train used to depart from Bengaluru City earlier but it has been shifted to SMVT.
"There is an entrance from Seva Nagar side to the station where there is a parking lot as well as a toll gate. I had just walked past the toll gate. The area was completely isolated when two young men on a two-wheeler stopped bang in front of me. They got down and both of them gave me a hard punch each on my face. One of them tried to snatch my wallet from my pant back pocket," he said.
The passenger also had his laptop, mobile phone and some cash with him. “Since I always button up the pocket where my wallet is, he was struggling to pull it out. Meanwhile, I raised my fist to counterattack them, when one of them showed a blade. I shouted and ran for my life along with my possessions. Luckily, there was an auto driver nearby the route I ran and they fled.”
The auto driver pacified me and walked me to the platform. “He also told me that such incidents were frequent at SMVT station due to the presence of anti-social elements who reside in a slum across. Many passengers have been robbed too was his version,” Shettigar added.
The analyst opted to board his train rather than visit the railway police station and lodge a complaint.”They take a long time to do so and it was important for me to travel. So, when travelling, I reached out to the Karnataka Railway Police on their Facebook page. I also tagged the Railway Minister and narrated my incident. I later got a call from the Railway Protection Force and they gave me a docket number and said they had noted my complaint.”
He added that since he was well built and fit, he was able to attempt to defend himself and leave the spot. “If it had been someone who was weaker than me, they would have lost all their possessions,” Shettigar said.
This reporter reached out to the Senior Divisional Security Commissioner of the RPF who said that passenger safety came under the purview of the GRP. The Deputy Superintendent of the GRP asked this reporter to speak to the Baiyappanhalli station Sub Inspector. The SI said he was also not aware of the incident.