Auto driver dumps suitcase outside shop ‘to scare public’

Konankunte police have booked Tousif under IPC section 283 (danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation) following a complaint by the supermarket

An auto-rickshaw driver packed a suitcase with sundry items and dropped it outside a supermarket in southern Bengaluru — just to “instil fear in the general public”, police said.

Tousif, 26, drove two women to the supermarket in Gottigere around 10.48 pm on January 22, parked outside and placed the suitcase next to a tree. He then turned back, cast a mischievous glance or two at the suitcase and entered the supermarket. The unattended suitcase created panic as a bomb had been planted at the Mangaluru International Airport just two days earlier.

Customers and local residents called the police soon after. Bomb disposal specialists arrived at the spot, and after an examination of the suitcase, declared that there were no explosives in it.

Police then got down to business and started hunting for the suspect. Although CCTV cameras had caught the act, the registration number of Tousif’s auto-rickshaw wasn’t clearly visible. Sleuths then had a close look at the pattern of the slogans written on the three-wheeler.

Police circulated a picture of the auto-rickshaw and received a tip about Tousif, who lives in Hommadevanahalli near Bannerghatta Road. They picked him up four days ago.

Police said Tousif initially told them that he just wanted to dump the suitcase that he had filled with vegetable waste, discarded paper and plastic. However, he confessed after intense grilling by the police that his real aim was to “instil fear in the public”.