BENGALURU: In a bold and noble special overnight operation that lasted for four hours the Ramanagara District Police in Karnataka, travelled almost 70 km and escorted more than 60 Tamil Nadu-registered vehicles back to in to Tamil Nadu safely on Tuesday night. Violent mobs across Bengaluru, Ramanagara, Maddur, Mandya and other parts of the state damaged TN-registered vehicles on 12 September after the Supreme Court verdict on releasing Cauvery water. “The Ramanagara District Police intelligence had information that there were around 60-70 Lorries in the district that could come under attack, Police sources said. The drivers had stationed the vehicles in isolated places but had the fear that they will be attacked. The police formed teams based on the information and contacted the drivers and asked them to come near NICE Road in the night and that they would escort them back to the Tamil Nadu border.” Police source say, “We had told them to have a Karnataka registered number plate and to cover the display boards which most of them carried Tamil native names. These vehicles arrived at the nearest points of NICE Road. Around midnight, two police jeeps (one in the front and one in the back) comprising six sub-inspectors, two inspectors and many police constables reached there. We had marked a few safe yards and had a communication system on the whole stretch. Some of the goods that were supposed to be delivered in local areas were shifted using local vehicles who came to these safe yards”. “The lorry drivers expressed their gratitude for Karnataka Police for their bold and noble cause and for safely taking them to Tamil Nadu border,” the police source said. “It took us around four hours to take these vehicles to the Tamil Nadu border. A strong communication system was in place to know the status on the route and we also instantly chose safe zones to park the vehicles. There was definitely a risk but we had a proper plan and as soon as we successfully completed the operation, there was a huge sigh of relief”, Ramanagara sub-division Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySp) Mr. M K Thammaiah, who headed the operation said. “The drivers were in fact very frightened. We had the challenge to keep everybody in the dark about the operation. Every vehicle was cordoned off in such a way that there were no room for attacks. With the help of police from neighbouring districts like Bengaluru Rural, we were able place a strong communication system that helped us shift these vehicles back to TN”, Ramanagara Superintendent of Police (SP) Mr.Chandragupta.]]>
