Mangalore: Passenger Sedated, Looted on Mumbai Bus

Pic: Sphoorti Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Aug 5: In the past, there had been instances of thieves approaching train passengers in the guise of making friends, offering drinks or food laced with intoxicants, and then taking away the belongings of the unsuspecting passengers once they lose consciousness.

Surprisingly, the looters have extended this strategy to buses, and a bus passenger who consumed the things offered by them, not only lost everything on his person, but also turned very weak.

Vishwanath Shetty (36) from Kumble in Kasargod district, had boarded a Volvo bus being operated by a private bus operator, at Malad, Mumbai on Wednesday afternoon. When the bus reached the city on Thursday morning, he remained still in his seat. The bus staff, who tried to wake him up, found that he was semiconscious. He could not move his limbs, and could not speak. The bus staff then found a mobile phone in his shirt pocket and called his wife, Latha. The family members of Shetty then reached Pumpwell in the city where the bus had been parked, and admitted Shetty into nearby private hospital.

The bus employees said Shetty had got down at Bhatkal and had tea there. It is thought that one of the passengers of the bus would have offered him food mixed with drugs and robbed him once he slipped into unconscious state.

The family members of Shetty found that everything Vishwanath Shetty had with him, except the dresses on his body and the mobile phone, had been robbed. Two gold rings, a gold chain, cash, and his luggage have gone missing. As Shetty is not in a position to speak, the things he has lost could not be properly listed.

The family is yet to file a police complaint, as they have to provide details of what happened and what items have been lost. Shetty, who has been working in a hotel in Mumbai since the last 12 years, was returning home for attending Nagara Panchami celebrations. He was married about 18 months back. More details about the incident are likely to come out later today once Shetty is able to speak.