Marshals deployed at Bellandur Lake have cracked the mystery of frequent fires at the water body, according to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials.

The marshals, deployed by the BBMP around the lake, found four miscreants burning cables to extract copper from them on December 6.  

The suspects are Charanappa, Pandurangan E, Prakash and Senthil who hail from Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu. They have been living in HSR Layout, Bengaluru from some time now.

The officials claim that these offenders make money by selling the extracted copper.

Wesley Fernandez, the marshal superintendent said, “We were patrolling the lake and found that a bunch of cable wires were set on fire. We also spotted the offenders and took them into custody. We have recovered close to 90 kg of copper wires from them.”

Sarfaraz Khan, joint commissioner, health and solid waste management, BBMP said, “The offenders were burning the wires in the buffer zone of the lake and this was one of the sources of pollution in the lake. We are keeping a watch on this.”

Captain Rajbir Singh, a senior official who deploys marshals at the lake said, “The fire incidents in the buffer zone of the lake had increased over the past two weeks, especially during the wee hours. We had noticed unusual fires along 400-500m stretch of the lake. This prompted us to undertake surprise mobile patrolling at the lake.”

Fernandez said that an FIR has been registered with the HSR police station against the offenders. He also said that the four were engaged in a scrap business and sold copper for up to Rs 400 a kg.

“We have been trying to ascertain the reasons for the fires at the lake. We assumed they were caused by cigarettes thrown around, resulting in dry grass catching fire. However, this is a serious offence and we will ensure that it does not recur,” said Khan.