Cases filed against three persons

Mysuru: The MCC was perturbed by three unknown persons trying to search for wealth by opening manholes. Realising the seriousness of the situation, it registered a Police complaint against them on Sunday. The incident was brought to the notice of MCC Executive Engineer Mahesh around 3.15 pm and he rushed to the spot on Ramanuja Road, 15th Cross but found nothing to substantiate that anybody had entered the manhole.

Mahesh said that he was surprised to hear on questioning a few locals and passers-by that a few unknown persons had indeed opened the lid of the manhole and got into one of them. 

“When the public questioned them, they said that they were looking for money and gold,” said Mahesh citing the local people.

MCC Commissioner Shilpa Nag said that there were three persons, as per eyewitness accounts, who had stated that they had seen a few local people entering the manhole in search of gold, silver and cash. Meanwhile, Mahesh said this was for the first time that they had come across anything like this (people getting into a manhole in search of treasure).

However, the identity of the three persons was not traceable, as they had left the spot covering the lid by the time the MCC staff could reach the spot. 

Looking at the complaint book, he found that there was no UGD blockage in that area nor had any complaint been registered in the last 15 days. Hence, the officials felt that the three did not belong either to the MCC or were they contract workers engaged in UGD works and hence they must be unauthorised persons, said Mahesh. 

MCC was well-equipped with adequate machinery to clean the UGD mechanically and its personnel need not physically enter any manhole to clean the clogged drainage, said Shilpa Nag. Since three unidentified persons had illegally opened a manhole, a complaint had been lodged against them with the KR Police Station, said Nag.