BENGALURU: Crank calls may be nothing new for the personnel manning the police control room. But a barrage of calls from one man over a period of three months can become too much to handle. Believe it or not, the yet unidentified caller has made 1,193 such calls to the Namma 100 helpline of the Bengaluru city police from different phone numbers.
The New Sunday Express got an opportunity to listen to an audio clip of one such call received by the helpline. The caller is heard trying to make casual conversation with a woman staffer, saying things like ‘oota aayta?’ (Did you have your meal?) and playing Kannada music.
All that the staff can do is block the numbers from which such calls are made. “In such cases, we just block the number. But it is blocked for only 24 hours since it is a petty reason. We don’t take up such issues with our seniors and waste our time,” said an exasperated staffer of the Namma 100 helpline.
According to another staffer, the calls keep coming in through the day. The number peaks post midnight and the callers are mostly drunk.
Data from the Namma 100 Control Room shows that out of 1,600 calls received every day, at least 30-40 calls are prank calls. The number doubles during the weekends, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police (control room) K Ajay Kumar.
“In most of these cases, the person is either mentally unstable or is on drugs or alcohol. They are either sent to the rehabilitation centre or given a stern warning,” said Ajay Kumar.
People who make prank calls over and over again are blocked. To unblock, the caller will have to visit the police station, explain his action and provide an apology letter.