BEWARE: car jackers are here!

By B Jayakishore

You might be aware of plane hijacking. But have you heard about carjacking? In US this is common word used to describe car theft. Wikipedia has got a definition for the word which goes like this: Carjacking is the crime

of stealing a motor vehicle when the vehicle is occupied. Typically, the carjacker is armed, and the driver is forced out of the car at gunpoint. The word is a portmantesu of car and hijacking.

Shocking revelation is that now Bangalore is also witnessing such a kind of incidents. But don’t worry. In Bangalore it is not as serious as it is mentioned in the definition. You know how they may steal your car? I mean Carjack your car? Please read on...

Normally what will you do take away car from parking lot? You unlock car and get inside, tighten seat belts and you start the engine and shift gear into Reverse to take out your car (if needed) from parking lot right? Now, when you look into the rear view mirror you may notice a piece of paper stuck to the middle of the rear window. Obviously it is obstructing your back view in mirror. So what will you do?

You stop the car. Unlock your doors, and step out to remove paper (or whatever it is) that is obstructing your view. When you reach the back of your car, these car jackers appear out of nowhere, jump into your car and take off. Every thing will be over within some seconds! So, now the carjacker has your car, your home address, your money, and your keys...for the time being you have lost every thing!

Recently this kind of incident had taken place in Bangalore, near ITPL-Whitefield outside south gate parking bay and same kind of incident was repeated in Koramangala-ring road near Sanyo BPL office in late evening in the same week.

What can be done: If you see a piece of paper stuck to your back window, just drive away. Remove the paper later. Whenever you step out of your car see to it that your car is locked properly.

Interestingly, when I inquired about this in some police stations, officials said: 'Yes, it has come to our notice that such incidents did happened in city recently. But till today no complaints has been registered in this regard. We are collecting further information about it'

However, some blogs have already broken the news. Interesting isn’t it?