BMTC bus conductor attacked with rock near Tin Factory while having lunch

BENGALURU: A BMTC conductor was attacked with a rock by a passenger while he was having lunch in the bus near Tin Factory on October 18. The conductor was left with a head injury following which a medico-legal case was registered and further investigation is under way.

In CCTV footage from inside the parked bus (KA-57-F-1107), the conductor Sangappa and the driver can be seen having their lunch around 2.35 pm when a man comes up and throws a big stone at the conductor’s head and flees. The man was later caught by passersby and questioned by other BMTC staff.

Three days prior to the incident, the attacker, identified as Hemanth, had got into a spat with the conductor Sangappa over the issue of producing his bus pass. Hemanth had then punched Sangappa in the stomach and escaped.

The attacker Hemanth was grilled by some BMTC staffers after he was caught.

After he was caught last Friday and questioned about his action, Hemanth, in a video, can be heard saying that he did not know the conductor personally. “Yes, I punched the conductor in the stomach and fled. I did attack him with the stone, but not to kill him. I was just passing by and I saw him and couldn’t control myself and hence, I attacked him”, Hemanth can be heard saying in the video.

In the last two months, this is the third incident of attack on a BMTC conductor. On September 8, a passenger had threatened the conductor of a BMTC bus plying on the Attibele-Majestic route with a screwdriver. On October 1, sacked BPO employee Harsha Sinha had stabbed conductor Yogesh at the ITPL bus stop near Whitelfied and damaged the bus windows and windshield.