Rowdy on vandalism spree caught after cop fires at him

A man with a long criminal record was arrested after a police inspector fired at him when he resisted arrest.

Srinivas alias Seegadi Seena was on the run after damaging 11 auto-rickshaws and five cars at Hegganahalli in northern Bengaluru earlier this month, according to police.

N Shashikumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North), said two of Srinivas’s associates were arrested the next day on the basis of the CCTV footage. The duo gave the police hints about Srinivas’s whereabouts. “We started tracking him and learnt that he was holed up in Jalahalli. A police team rushed there to apprehend him early on Sunday morning,” the officer said. “Constable Veerabhadrappa caught him but he attacked him with a knife. Our officers asked him to surrender but he tried to attack Rajagopalanagar inspector Dinesh Patil B S. The inspector then fired at him in self-defence.”

The police took both Srinivas and Veerabhadrappa to hospital. Veerbhadrappa was later discharged.

On February 5, Srinivas had allegedly fought with an auto-rickshaw driver named Ranganath over a trivial matter. Ranganath is said to have abused him in public. Srinivas vowed revenge and later went to Ranganath’s house in Hegganahalli along with three of his associates. While Ranganath wasn’t home at that time, the four men allegedly vented their anger by vandalising some vehicles parked nearby.

Hearing the chaos, Suneel Gowda, a resident, came out of his house but the four men allegedly threatened him. The vehicle owners later filed three separate police complaints.

Police took the vehicle vandalism seriously as it was not a one-off incident. The same gang had allegedly vandalised vehicles last month after the husband of a woman they had harassed vowed to go to the police. The gang went to the couple’s house and vandalised vehicles parked outside, Shashikumar said.

Srinivas is also wanted in several robberies and thefts, and is listed as a history-sheeter at the Kamakshipalya police station.