Thieves give Tata Nagar residents a shoe bite

By Iffath Fathima

CCTV cameras have captured a gang of 3-4 persons stealing about 20 pairs of expensive shoes from various houses past midnight

First they came for the vehicle tyres. Now, they have come for the shoes. Residents of Vidyaranyapura are having sleepless nights thinking what the thieves will go for next in this area.

Just a week after tyres were stolen from several cars in one area, another locality near Vidyaranyapura, Tata Nagar, about 20 pairs of shoes were stolen from seven houses past midnight on Sunday.

North Bengaluru has become a haven for petty thieves, complain the residents while pointing out that even after taking all security measures like installing CCTV cameras, locking gates and keeping dogs in the compounds, the thieves manage to steal what they target.

Manager of a business firm, Pawan Kumar, a resident of Tata Nagar, said, “I keep all my shoes in the small passage outside the main door. When I woke up at 5.30 am on Monday, I saw six pairs of my branded formal shoes were missing. I checked in and around the house but could not find it. One of these pairs was unused and still in the box. That too was missing. But they left behind the box.”

“I have a CCTV camera at home. In it, I saw that the shoes were stolen at 1.00 am by a gang of four men. I could spot three, the fourth person was hiding behind a wall, but I could see his shadow in the footage. The other three came in through the gate and one of them was keeping a lookout, while two put the best shoes in their bags.”

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Another resident of Tata Nagar, MS Lakshmi, said her four pairs of sports shoes belonging to her son have gone missing from outside their house. “We keep our shoes in a shoe shelf outside the door. Getting inside our gate is very difficult as the gate is high and we also have high walls,” she said.

In the CCTV footage, it can be seen that the thieves jumped over from the neighbour house as the walls are close. Two men came at 1.10 am and took all the branded shoes and left. They did not bother with the slippers or used old sandals. At 1.45 am another person also came and checked, he had to leave empty handed as the shoes were already gone.

“This mean, we have to think of our safety. We have an open area outside the main door, which we will put grills over. Though it will spoil the look of the house, safety matters more,” she said. Lakshmi said that the night patrol by police in the Hoysala is not proving to be of any help as the thieves, mostly young men, come after the night rounds. KU Mahesh, bank executive and a resident of Tata Nagar, pointed out that the locality is a quiet residential area. A majority of the residents are techies and they sleep early, so it is an easy pick for the thieves, he said. “Four pairs of branded shoes were stolen from my house. There should be an end to this as we have been facing a lot of thefts.”

When informed about the burglary, the Kodigehalli police inspector said, “We will beef up security at night and also double up on the night patrol.”