Complaint over obstruction of vendor eviction drive

A BBMP official has filed a police complaint against the president of Samata Sainik Dal for obstructing the eviction of street vendors in southeastern Bengaluru’s Koramangala last Saturday. 

The complaint accuses M Venkataswamy of “threatening” a BBMP assistant executive engineer who was overseeing the eviction of street vendors during the Sony World junction as per Lokayukta’s orders, a Palike official said on the condition of anonymity. 

The complaint states that Venkataswamy telephoned the engineer and demanded how could he carry out the eviction drive. “I will file a case against you under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,” Venkataswamy is said to have told him. 

Venkataswamy said he had just opposed the eviction of a cobbler. “There is an order by the BBMP commissioner against evicting street vendors. Still, these officials were doing it,” he added. He, however, said he wasn’t aware of the complaint. 

Police are yet to register an FIR over the complaint.