Police reluctance: Bengaluru man forced to wait 15 days to register complaint for motorcycle theft

Despite repeated assurances of a ‘people-friendly’ approach by the Bengaluru police, a local resident was forced to wait over two weeks just to get his complaint of a stolen motorcycle officially registered.

K. Ramesh, a 57-year-old private employee residing in Prashanth Nagar, decided to register a missing complaint with the police when he was unable to find his scooter, which was parked outside his office, on May 28.

When he approached the Vijaya Nagar police, they asked him to go to Govindaraja Nagar police citing jurisdictional issue.

However, the Govindaraja Nagar police asked him to “come back after three days as officials concerned are not available,” he alleged.

Upon returning after three days, he was allegedly sent back home again — this time for a week. The police said that they were busy with the ongoing stadium stampede case and bandobast duty.

What followed next was multiple visits, repeated explanations, and vague assurances, but no FIR. The police even asked him to revise his complaint and mark his scooter as missing’ rather than ‘stolen’.

“It was disheartening. Every time I went, I was told something new — ‘system down’, ‘officer on special duty’ or ‘come tomorrow’. If this is people-friendly policing, I don’t know what unfriendly would look like,” Mr. Ramesh said.

The complaint was finally registered on June 13 after media inquiries and intervention by a local activist group. By then, critical time had been lost, diminishing the chances of the scooter’s recovery.

“I have my own doubts whether the vehicle can be recovered; but my concern is that if the vehicle is misused, I will be in trouble,” Mr. Ramesh said, adding that it was his office vehicle that was given to him for convinience.

Published - June 14, 2025 07:47 pm IST