by reciprocal arrangement with Star of Mysore
Mysore, Mar 2: It is one of those rarest or rare cases of vehicle-lifting. Stealing two-wheelers or even cars attracts the least suspicion and the incidents of such cases take place at regular intervals. A strange incident of a smart alec driving off a KSRTC bus, that too from the ever-busy suburban bus stand, has been reported here.
Shivachari, a tempo driver from Kanakapura in Bangalore Rural District, had come here on some work on Feb. 27. While he was waiting for a bus in Bangalore bus stop to go back to his place, a KSRTC bus (KA09-F3308) came and was parked nearby.
The bus driver Basavaraju and conductor Mallapura went to the toilet after parking the bus. Shivachari was waiting for a bus for a long time and his impatience took its toll and prompted him to do the extreme.
Within no time, the smart alec got into the bus and drove off in a jiffy, which nobody noticed as many buses come in and go out every few seconds.
When the driver and conductor came out after answering nature's call, there was a surprise — their bus had disappeared! Frantic calls to their colleagues and enquiries with the staff members yielded no result.
A passenger, who was watching the panic, told them that he saw a man driving off the bus and while it was confirmed that the bus was taken away by some-body, Shivachari was cooly driving the bus and had already crossed the milk dairy enroute T. Narasipur.
The driver Basavaraju got into action and took another bus to chase Shivachari. Finally, he could spot the speeding bus near milk dairy and intercepted it ending minutes of suspense and drama.
When Basavaraju took Shivachari to task, the reply was as cool as the stealing act: 'I waited for a bus to go back to Kanakapura. Though I waited for more than 30 minutes, no bus came and even the staff there did not provide me correct information. So, I decided to drive one myself!'
Nazarbad Police, who rushed to the spot, took Shivachari into custody and handed him over to Lashkar Inspector Puttaswamygowda.
Later, he was produced before the court. He was remanded to judicial custody for 15 days.