BANGALORE: One night, Rajiv Palan sat by his window in the dark and kept a sharp eye out. The businessman, a resident of Concord Layout, a gated community in Singasandra near Electronics City, had made up his mind to solve the mystery of the punctured tyres . For some time now, residents of the layout would wake up every morning to find their vehicle tyres flattened.

What Palan saw made him sit up. Cops on Cheetahs stopped by every parked vehicle, pulled out the air-pins and moved on.

"I sat beside my window and carefully looked out for the culprits. I was shocked to see uniformed constables," said Palan. He gathered the residents of the layout and marched to the Parappana Agrahara police station, and was told the policemen were only safeguarding their vehicles. "There are cases of vehicle thefts being reported often. So we do this night audit," police told them.

The layout has 55 sites, and 35 villas have been built. There are over 35 vehicles and most are parked in front of the houses.

"Though ours is a gated community, we haven't appointed security personnel because all the residents don't contribute. The gate of the layout is kept open as many residents return home at odd hours. We park our vehicles outside our homes, but within the layout. How can police puncture them?" questioned Palan. Recently, Palan was unwell and had to rush to hospital, but couldn't as the tyres of his vehicle were flattened.

MECHANIC WAS FIRST SUSPECT

The residents first thought it was a nearby mechanic shop owner who wanted more business.

"The mechanic himself told us that cops were doing this. We didn't believe him at first. But it's true," said Abhijit Misra, a techie who lives in Concord Layout because it's close to his office.

Misra sold his dream Jeep recently, as he thought cops may puncture it and render it useless. "Fixing the puncture of a Jeep is not an easy task. So I decided to sell it," said Misra.

Singasandra corporator Kavitha Baburaj said: "How can police enter a gated community and puncture vehicles? Is this the way to bring about awareness?"

WE DID IT, SAY COPS

"We did it on purpose. These residents claim to live in a gated community, but they have no security personnel. By parking cars and two-wheelers in front of their houses and leaving the gate open, they are inviting thieves. To avoid vehicle thefts, we started removing the air from their tyres and puncturing them at night. We want them to be aware," said Lakshminarayan, inspector of Parappana Agrahara police station.

Double locks, covers of no help!

The cops advised the residents to cover their vehicles and have double locks fixed to avoid getting them punctured.

"But the cops puncture vehicles which are double-locked and covered. What's the logic?" question the residents of Concord Layout.

