BENGALURU: In a bizzare incident, a man threw currency notes of Rs 10, Rs 50, Rs 100 and Rs 200 denomination from atop the K R Market flyover on Monday, much to the shock and surprise of people commuting on the flyover and also those below.
As soon as the man, identified as Arun, started throwing the notes, people rushed to collect them, leading to a traffic jam for a while on the road. According to locals, he had three to four bundles of currency notes and he may thrown about Rs 4,000 in all.
In videos of the incident, Arun, dressed in a suit and wearing a white shirt, can be seen with a bag in hand and a wall clock hanging from his neck, throwing currency notes at the people below from the KR Market flyover. Some people can be heard begging for money saying that they are poor and labourers. To that, Arun says, “I know… the right time should come and it will come for everyone”. He left crossed to the other side of the flyover, threw some some more notes and walked away.
Speaking to Public TV on Tuesday, Arun said, “I did not do this for making social media reels and I don’t do reels”. Referring to the clock around his neck, he said it signifies time. “I threw the notes at a good time. I thought it would be good to throw money this time. There is a good message behind the act, and I will let you know everything”. But he kept insisting that he needed more time to explain his actions.
Arun, who identified himself as a marketing coach, event planner and an anchor, said, “If I’m given some time, I will give complete information. My intention was good. The money was my own and I’m on the right path”. But he refused to answer why he needed more time to explain his action. .
To a question on whether he was aware that it is legally wrong to do indulge in such an act, he said, “I would apologise for that, but I was aware of the whole situation”.
Following the incident, the police launched a hunt for him and issued a notice at his Nagarbhavi residence to present himself for questioning. Later in the day, the City Market police detained Arun Kumar from his office, where he was holed up, for questioning.
“A video of a man throwing cash from the KR Market flyover on Monday had gone viral, leading to a traffic jam and hampering movement of people for some time. We took up a suo motu case and we are in the process of registering a case against him after taking permission from the court”, Deputy Commissioner of Police Lakshman Nimbargi said.
“The individual, identified as Arun, is into anchoring and marketing. He wanted to gain popularity and hence, he threw cash, as per our preliminary investigation. Whatever small change, like Rs 10 or Rs 20, etc, he had got from his anchoring assignments, he brought that money in a bag along with his friend and threw the cash at KR Market because he knew that there will be more people there. He has also shared the video on social media for publicity. Even he doesn’t know how much money was in the bag. We are also questioning the friend with whom he came”, he added.