Bengaluru: What began as a hopeful effort to secure her children’s education ended in heartbreak for a 39-year-old mother, who lost Rs 80,000 in cash that she had borrowed from her younger sister. Thieves allegedly stole the cash while she was boarding or not long after she had boarded a BMTC bus (route number 317) at City Market BMTC stand.According to the complaint filed by Pankaja, a resident of A Narayanapura in Mahadevapura, her family was facing financial strain and she approached her sister, Rathnamma, for help. On April 23, she visited KIMS Hospital as her cousin had met with an accident and was undergoing treatment there. Her sister, who stays in Hanumanthanagar, invited her to her home as she had shifted to a new house.At her home, Rathnamma suggested that she take the cash needed to pay her children’s school fees instead of coming again for the same. Pankaja took the cash and kept it in her vanity bag. Rathnamma also gave her a bag of rice. Pankaja then took a BMTC bus to Victoria Hospital bus stop from Hanumanthanagar and walked to the City Market BMTC bus stand.She waited for almost 30 minutes for bus route no. 317 bound for Tin Factory. She last saw the cash a couple of minutes before the bus arrived. While boarding the bus around 12pm, she was pushed by the crowd. She managed to get a seat, but soon noticed a woman in her 70s standing. She gave up her seat to the woman and stood in the crowded bus. Soon, she noticed that her vanity bag’s zip was open. She immediately checked inside, only to find the entire Rs 80,000 missing.Speaking to TOI, Pankaja said the BMTC bus driver and conductor were not cooperative when she requested them to stop the bus for 10 minutes to check if someone had stolen her money, and they even refused to show her CCTV camera footage.A woman constable helped her lodge a complaint. The CCTV camera at the bus stand was not functioning, police told her. City Market police registered a case under BNS Section 303 (theft).Pankaja has approached the school where her elder son is studying in class 4 and her younger son in LKG, requesting a month’s time from them to pay the fees.
