Speed post letter tampered

Rs 23,000 cash was withdrawn using the ATM card

Mahesh K Merchant, the complainant, and a resident of Koramangala, had sent these documents to his son Aushim Merchant studying chemical engineering in Austraila, on May 5.

Four days later on May 9, Merchant received two SMSes from the HDFC Bank, Sarjapur Branch, intimating him that Rs 5,000 was withdrawn from his son's account.

Merchant immediately called his son only to be told that he had not received the letter. That day, Rs 19,000 more was withdrawn from the same account at the HDFC Bank’s ATM Centre in Kodihalli.

Merchant then approached the post office and sought details of the letter. The post office, however, failed to track it.

“After opening the account, my son asked me to send the documents provided by the bank to him. I didn't even open the envelope and sent it via speed post. But, someone in the post office pocketed the ATM card and withdrew the sum,” Merchant told Deccan Herald.

As every international dispatch is scanned at the post office, someone had removed the ATM card, added Merchant.

“Such letters are sent to Mumbai from where they are processed further to the destination country. They deliver it within 3-4 days, but in this instance, it wasn't processed at all,” he alleged.

Merchant said, “I am counting on the CCTV footage at the ATM centre where the sum was withdrawn for tracking the suspect,” he added.

A Koramangala police officer investigating the matter said that they had given a week's time to the post office to track the letter. A case under Section 420 of the IPC has been booked.

Chain snatched

An old woman was duped of her gold jewellery by a man who entrapped her promising to get her a cheque of Rs 20,000 on  N R Colony Main Road here on Wednesday.

M Parvathi Bai, 76, was returning from the nearby Ambabhavani temple around 10 am
when a stranger in his late 40s approached her informing that the government was ‘doling out’ a cheque of Rs 20,000 to the poor and needy people. The woman initially refused but the man convinced her to accompany him.

He asked her to remove the gold jewellery and keep it in a pouch as the money will not be given to those wearing expensive jewellery. He asked her to hand it over to him. She refused but he kept pressurising her.

He asked her to wait and walked off with her jewellery. A suspicious Parvathi, however, tried to chase him but the suspect fled. She called for help but passersby also failed to track the man.

Parvathi filed a complaint with the Thyagarajanagar police who are on the lookout for the suspect.

New DCP for B’lore NE

DCP Ravikanthe Gowda took charge of the Bangalore North-East divsion on Wednesday. Outgoing officer Basavaraj Malagatti handed over the charge to Ravikanthe Gowda. Malagatti will be occupying Gowda's post as DCP Mysore (Law and Order).

Dairy union director killed

A Bangalore Dairy Union director died in a road accident on NICE Road junction on Tuesday night.

The Talghattapura police identified the deceased as Anil Kumar (35), a resident of Bolar near Somanahalli on Kanakapura Road. A truck attached to a soft drink factory rammed into Anil's car. The driver managed to escape, leaving the vehicle behind. Anil was the director of the Bangalore Dairy Union which is affiliated to the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF).