Woman who 'torched' KPN buses remanded in 3-day police custody

A 22-year-old woman, who is accused of torching dozens of buses belonging to KPN Travels India Private Ltd during the violent protests over Cauvery last week, has been remanded in three-day police custody.

Bhagyashree, 22, a native of Yadgir, was recorded by CCTV cameras running towards the buses with a fuel bottle in her hand. A daily wage labourer, she lives in D’Souza Nagar, close to the bus operator’s garage in western Bengaluru. Police arrested her based on the CCTV footage.

On Thursday, she was produced before a court which remanded her in police custody for three days. During the interrogation, she said that she was sitting in front of her house when some people she knew ran towards the garage. They promised to pay her if she joined them. She agreed and went with them. She claimed that she didn’t know why they were torching the buses.

One of the men asked her to fetch a bottle of petrol. She took the bottle from another person and gave it to the first person. The mob egged her on and she started setting the buses on fire, a senior police officer quoted her as saying.

Bhagyashree was shown the footage of several people and asked to identify them. Based on her information, three more people were arrested on Saturday, the officer said.