Suitcase scare at Bengaluru supermarket turns out to be neat pile of waste

Hard on the heels of the Mangaluru airport incident where an abandoned bag with explosive set off an alarm, an unattended suitcase in front of a supermarket in Gottigere triggered panic among people on Thursday.

The suitcase was placed by an autorickshaw driver who arrived at the spot with two women. Police suspect it to be a deliberate act — along the lines of the Mangaluru incident where a man named Adithya Rao planted the explosive on airport premises — to create fear among people. But going by the content of the suitcase — rotting vegetables, paper, plastic and other waste — the cops also feel it would have been a desperate attempt to dispose of waste, bypassing the BBMP’s strict garbage disposal rule.

The red-coloured suitcase was found abandoned in front of the shopping complex by a person searching for parking lot, who alerted the police. A police team rushed to the spot and secured the spot. The public, including the customers at the mall and staffers, were evacuated. The bomb disposal squad and sniffer dog squad rushed to the spot and after a thorough examination of the suitcase, declared that there was no explosive but only waste materials in it.

CCTV footage

The CCTV footage at the mall captured a man suspiciously leaving the suitcase at the spot.

According to the police, an autorickshaw arrived at the shopping complex at 10.48 am. The driver — a man in late 20s — and two women get down from the rickshaw after which the man is seen taking out a suitcase and placing it on a stone slab. Later, the three walk into the mall. Upon their return later, the man walks around the suitcase suspiciously and later drives away in the rickshaw after loading groceries.

The police suspect the man might have planted the suitcase to trigger panic, as he is seen looking back at the suitcase while leaving, joking and laughing with the two women. “Efforts are on to trace him. The registration number of the autorickshaw is not clearly captured in the camera. But we have got clues on the vehicle based on the names and other things written on it,” a senior officer said.