The curious case of a bus shelter ‘disappearing’ in Bengaluru, which bemused many, has been solved by the police. The missing bus shelter from Cunningham Road was found at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) stockyard, and Bengaluru police said that the shelter was not stolen, as reported earlier. Police said that a miscommunication between the BBMP and Signpost, the company which installed the shelter, led to the false complaint.
According to the police, the BBMP authorities had taken down the bus shelter and moved it to their stockyard following public complaints about its unscientific design and potential risk to pedestrians. Before dismantling it, BBMP officials had requested Signpost to address the quality issues and make necessary repairs. With no response from the company, BBMP officials proceeded with the removal and relocation, police said.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda said, “Initial reports suggested that the bus shelter had been stolen. However, our investigation revealed that it had been relocated to the BBMP warehouse due to concerns about its poor quality and safety." He explained that there had been complaints about its substandard quality and Signpost failed to respond adequately to BBMP's notices. Following an on-site inspection, the shelter was removed by the BBMP on August 25.
Police are however unable to understand why Signpost filed a false complaint. Further, they also said that the estimated value of the bus shelter was Rs 3 lakh, and not Rs 10 lakh, as the company had quoted previously.
When the bus shelter went “missing”, Signpost’s Associate Vice President N Ravi Reddy had filed a theft complaint at the High Grounds police station on September 30. He claimed that they had contacted BBMP about the bus shelter but BBMP failed to give them a satisfactory response.
However, after reviewing the CCTV footage, police identified the BBMP workers, made contact with them and resolved the case.