Spread a net across the central atrium and walk away with the ‘safe’ tag, that seems to be the mantra of City malls.

Friday night’s incident where five people, including Reliance Industries honcho Mukesh Ambani’s niece, were injured when the elevator crashed due to ‘overload’, has exposed more chinks in City malls’ safety mechanisms, though the government machinery is going all out to support the mall owners and promoters.

The police, of course, arrive at the scene in time and help with the shifting of the injured to hospitals, but then withdraw from the scene and start playing hide-and-seek when it comes to registering complaints against the malls.

The police have gotten away with giving a clean chit to the Garuda Mall after the death of six-year-old Ahan Bhandari who slipped and fell through a gap near the floor railing from the top floor. The Ashok Nagar police recorded statements and registered a case of unnatural death and closed the file.

The DCP concerned, B N S Reddy, told Deccan Herald: “We (police) come into picture when there is a criminal angle to it. In Ahan’s case, the CCTV footage clearly show that the boy had an accidental fall”. But the police also say Ahan’s parents aren’t coming forward to give a complaint.

Interestingly, the Bangalore City police Commissioner N Achutha Rao told a media meet: “We haven’t given a clean chit to Garuda Mall.” Asked about Ahan’s parents being upset about police shifting the blame on them for negligence, he replied, “I’ll enquire if the police indeed have made such a statement and get back to you”.

But one retired police officer, who happened to be at the mall during the lift nightmare, told this reporter: “What a shame this mall is named after former police commissioner Garudachar, known for his sincerity and honesty. Here we’ve a situation where the mall owners have flouted all safety norms and even occupied some extra land illegally.”

“All the departments concerned have bowed down to political pressure. There are various ways and means to see to it that malls fall in line and ensure safety,” he declared. He noted that the Ashok Nagar police should have taken up a suo motu case or under IPC 304A/174 CrPC (death due to rash and negligent act) and booked the culprits. The current crop of officers are too busy lobbying for their own promotions.”

The BBMP Commissioner and Joint Director, who have the power to give occupancy certificates for high-rises (third floor and above; both commercial and residential) should be made a party to the case and the guilty punished,” said the ex-police officer.

“Merely spreading a net inside the atrium cannot wipe out public memory of the tragedy and I am sure even the nets will vanish in due course as it spoils advertising aethetics,” he added.