Security agencies in Bangalore warned while employing staff

The police may soon come down hard on private security agencies that fail to keep records of their employees and security guards.  “This has become necessary after we arrested four security guards in connection with the Rs29-lakh robbery on June 7. We have arrested five people and four of them are security guards. Of these four, three are brothers from Kodagu,” said police commissioner Shankar M Bidari on Saturday.

One of the arrested, TP Bopanna alias Karna, 28, was working for Core Professional Group Security as a gunman. He was a security guard at a jewellery showroom in Jayanagar when, on June 7, he allegedly robbed over Rs29 lakh from a car used to transport bank money. The co-accused — his brothers, TP Lingaraju, 35, and TP Bopanna — worked for the same agency. The police said Rs19.6 lakh was seized. The money was being taken to Axis Bank’s Vijayanagar branch by a bank employee when the gang attacked him. They culprits threw chilli powder mixed with salt at the occupants of the car.

Bidari said there is a need to check cases of security guards deployed to protect bank vehicles carrying cash. Security agencies have been instructed to maintain employee records with details such as home address and a photograph. Prospective security guards must get police clearance before they are employed by agencies. 

“We will cooperate with security agencies to complete formalities and we’ll keep a copy of the records to keep ourselves posted in case of incidents involving guards,” said Bidari.