BENGALURU: Close on the heels of an incident where four miscreants attacking staffers of a bakery and vandalising the shop near Marathahalli a week ago, a similar incident occurred in Jai Bharat Nagar under Banasawadi police limits on Saturday where a machete-wielding man tried to extort money from a fish shop owner.
Following the viral video, the Banasawadi police arrested the accused Sudesh and are questioning him. Of late, rowdies or gangs attacking owners of small shops to extort money have increased in Silicon City.
In the viral video, the accused Sudesh can be seen approaching the fish stall on Saturday afternoon and demanding money from the shop owner. When the staffers told him that shop owner was not available, he pushed two vehicles to the ground, damaged it and threw the fish crates. He also threatened the staffers to arrange money by evening.
In the second CCTV footage, Sudesh is seen coming to the fish stall looking for the owner around 6.40 pm and suddenly wielded a machete. He threatened the threatened the owner not to complain to the police and left.
Manoj, fish shop owner, said, “Sudesh came to the fish shop in the evening. When I was not there in the shop, he threatened the staffers, wielding a machete and demanded that money should be paid to him by evening. I had a lucky escape as I was not at the shop at that time. I came to shop in the evening and Sudesh was by the roadside near the shop. When he saw me, he barged into the shop for extorting money, pushed down the two-wheelers parked in front of the shop and damaged fish crates. We have experienced similar threats from him many a times. He also threatened me of life if I informed the police”.
A staffer of the fish shop said, “Sudesh has harassed and tortured us earlier too. On Saturday, he came with a machete. So we thought this is a high time to inform the police seeking protection for our lives”.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Dr Bheemashankar S Guled has arranged protection for the fish stall owner and staff. He said that their preliminary investigation revealed there are no previous cases against Sudesh. “If there are any complaints, we will take further action against him”, he said.
Balaji, another trader from same area, too shared his problems due to increased harassment from goons. “The problem of goons has increased here. They come to extort money from us and threaten us not to inform police. If we don’t pay up, they damage vehicles parked in front of our houses. The womenfolk are terrified of their behaviour”.