Police confiscate 820 vehicles for violating Bengaluru's weekend curfew

Working hard to implement the weekend and night curfew, city police seized 820 vehicles between 6 am and 8 pm on Saturday.

Added to the 540 vehicles they seized between December 28 and 5 am on Saturday morning, the total number of vehicles seized stands at 1,369 bikes, cars, and three-wheeled vehicles.

Policemen of the west division, which covers jurisdictions of Majestic and KR Market areas, made most seizures with 316 on Saturday, while the south division police seized 147 vehicles.

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Motorists wandering during the curfew on Friday night and Saturday morning argued with on-duty policemen saying they were out for essentials and medicines, but police seized their vehicles on learning that they were loitering while letting those coming out on an emergency pass.

The West division police and BBMP officials conducted swab tests on motorists violating the curfew near the KR Market area.

Home Minister Araga Jnanendra undertook a city tour with Bengaluru police chief Kamal Pant and other senior cops on Saturday to review the enforcement of the weekend curfew.

Jnanendra also interacted with police personnel deployed on the streets and enquired about their health.

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At the Goraguntepalya junction on Tumakuru Road, he interacted with essential services workers who were stopped by the police for questioning.

Speaking to reporters later, the minister claimed that there had been a good response to the curfew but said any decision on extending the restrictions would be taken after consultations with experts.

He lauded the police for cracking down on people roaming the streets “unnecessarily” and asked the public to cooperate with the cops to make “everyone safe”.

Cops vulnerable to infection

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On the frontline of implementing the curfew, policemen are most susceptible to contracting the Covid infection since they interact with more people. Sixty policemen who had taken both Covid vaccine doses tested positive in the third wave. Fifty-four of them are active, while six returned homes after testing negative.

On Saturday, samples of 30 policemen came back as positive. They had swab tests on Thursday and Friday. Nineteen of those who tested positive are from the west division.

Police stations have been sanitised and preventive measures are being taken. Additional Director General of Police Bhaskar Rao was among those who tested positive for Covid. Rao is under home isolation.

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