BENGALURU: For retired assistant commissioner of police Krishna Y B, the week between January 28 and February 4 was one filled with anxiety. The apple of his eye, four-and-a-half-year-old Bablu, had gone missing. Although deep within he felt that his pet would be back, a fear lurked that it may not be so. Little did he even suspect that Bablu, his pet Rottweiler, would be stolen by an alcoholic, a 30-year-old auto driver named Suresh, who had planned to sell him to raise easy money to finance his drinking habit. It happened on January 28. Bablu was tied to the gatepost of Krishna’s house on AMP Road in Girinagar.
At about 10.30pm, when he came to the gate, Bablu was nowhere in sight. He looked all over for him, but to no avail. A worried man, Krishna approached the Girinagar police and filed a missing person complaint. The police went into action right away. They studied the CCTV footage and learnt that Suresh had untied Bablu and taken him away after feeding him biscuits.
After four days, Doddaballapur police received an alert from one Chandrashekhar Bhat, a Doddaballapur resident, stating that a man had approached him with a Rottweiler for sale. The Doddaballapur police received Bablu’s photos sent by Bhat, which were shared with the city police. These were received by Girinagar police, who showed the photos to Krishna. He identified Bablu and was visibly relieved that his pet was well and fine with Doddaballapur police. Then followed a happy reunion.
“On February 4, I went to Doddaballapur police station to bring him to the house. ASI Venkatesh there had helped take care of him for a day. When Bablu looked at me, he was so scared as he felt he had committed a mistake and I would beat him up.
Then I shouted at him ‘come let’s go home’ and he pounced on me and kept licking me. We were reunited. Then he sat in the car and vomited repeatedly as he was forced to eat too much. I took him to the hospital and after treatment we reached home where my wife Ashwathamma hugged him and cried out of happiness,” Krishna narrated.
“We both felt we lost one of our own kids when he disappeared.” Meanwhile, Doddaballapur police who had detained Suresh, escorted him to Bengaluru where Girinagar police interrogated him. Suresh reportedly told them that Bablu was straying around and that he did not know who he belonged to and took him with him. But he was unable to convincingly explain why he had to take Bablu all the way to Doddaballapur. It also turned out that Suresh was helped by an accomplice who is absconding. “The accused who I met at the station, begged me to forgive him. But I told him that he had stolen an emotional bond, not a dog. So I told him that law would take its own course even if I forgave him,” Krishna said.