Date:25/10/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/25/stories/2007102562700400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Rider lends helmet, dies in collision Crime notes

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: A little act of selflessness proved fatal for a young software engineer who was returning home on his motorcycle on Tuesday night.

Amar Gaonkar (25), an engineer with a software company on Bannerghatta Road, and his friend Lakshmipathi Nayak were riding a motorcycle. As it was raining heavily, the jerkin-protected Amar removed his crash helmet and gave it to Nayak, who was riding pillion, to protect him from the downpour.

Around 11.15 p.m., Amar’s motorcycle collided with a BMTC bus at Lakshmipura, off Anand Rao Circle grade separator, and he suffered serious head injuries. Amar died before he was shifted to a nearby hospital. Nayak, who was wearing helmet, was lucky to survive the accident but with injuries, the police said. While Amar was a resident of Vijayanagar, Nayak was from Singapura Layout in Vidyaranyapura.

Mason killed in accident

In another incident, Sudhakar (35), a mason, was killed on the spot after a lorry hit his scooter on Byrathi Main Road around 7.15 a.m. on Wednesday. The Banaswadi traffic police seized the lorry and are on the lookout for the driver.

Burgled

Burglars struck at two houses in Mahalakshmi Layout and Hennur police station limits and looted gold ornaments and other valuables estimated at Rs. 3 lakh. Using a fake key, thieves entered M.S. Gurudatta Rao’s house in 2nd Stage, Mahalakshmi Layout, on Tuesday and made away with gold worth Rs. 1 lakh from an almirah. The theft took place between 11 a.m. and 1.15 p.m., the police said. On a complaint by Rao, a co-operative bank employee, the police have registered a case.

In the other incident, burglars decamped with gold ornaments and other valuables, together worth Rs. 2 lakh, from Lakshmi Prasad’s house in Shirdi Saibabanagar when he and his family had been to Hassan. The incident came to light after they returned on Tuesday.

Run over

A man aged around 20 was run over by a train on Bangalore-Mysore tracks on Tuesday. The body, which was found between Hejjala and Bidadi, has been kept at the Government Hospital mortuary in Channapatna in Ramanagara district, the police said.