Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) authorities were left bemused after a bus was stolen from the Kempegowda Bus Station in the Majestic area here on Sunday night only to be found abandoned on Monday afternoon near Gooty town in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantpur district.
That the theft of the bus comes close on the heels of a similar incident in which a BMTC bus was stolen on March 28 this year from the bus stand and later found abandoned near Hoskote the following day, has left the police and the BMTC authorities flummoxed.
The BMTC bus that was stolen on Sunday was being operated on the Magadi Road-Majestic route. After the last trip for the day, driver Ramesh and conductor Sanganna Basavaiah parked the bus opposite Bangalore City Railway Station, where BMTC buses are usually parked overnight, around 10.30 p.m. and went to have dinner. On their return an hour later, they couldn't find the bus. Even as the police launched a search, they were alerted by their counterpart in Gooty about the bus being abandoned in their town.
Sunday’s theft is the fourth instance of a BMTC bus being stolen and then being abandoned. Two BMTC buses were stolen in December 2009 and later found abandoned on the outskirts of the city.
