The 1,112-acre Jnanabharathi campus, a major lung space in west Bengaluru, has become a den of criminal activities with regular reports of sandalwood smuggling, robbery, extortion and murders.
Days before deputy chief minister G Parameshwara’s personal assistant, Ramesh M S, committed suicide by hanging from a tree on the campus, Manjunath, a 27-year-old cab driver from Channapatana ended his life by slitting his throat with a knife on the campus.
In October 2012, a 21-year-old student of National Law School of Indian University was gang-raped by eight people, and her friend was assaulted near Gandhi Bhavan inside the campus.
According to police, 55 sandalwood trees have been stolen from the campus between 2015 to 2018. In December 2017 alone, 26 trees were axed and smuggled.
A highly decomposed body of a man aged about 35 was found without clothes on August 29, 2015, in an isolated spot. Four years on, the police are yet to identify the body.
In yet another incident, a-14-year-old boy, who went missing from his house in Moodalapalya in February 2015, was found dead with his throat slit in a grove.
And not to mention the unreported robbery and extortion cases.
The vast tree cover and remoteness make the sprawling campus a safe haven for criminals. Repeated pleas over to years to beef up security on the campus have failed to yield the desired results.
