Bengaluru: Hearse driver extorts fee from victims’ kin for free cremation

BENGALURU: A hearse driver allegedly cheated many grieving families and transported bodies after extorting exorbitant amount of money as fees. He conned the families into believing that the free government facilities were paid ones.
Prasanna, 34, of Ramanagara and owner-cum-driver of an ambulance-hearse van was arrested and his vehicle was seized. Police said he was a regular at all four mass crematoriums in the city.Investigation will reveal the number of people he cheated.
He had converted a vehicle into an ambulance-hearse van. Following the surge in Covid cases and deaths in the past few weeks, BBMP opened mass crematoriums on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Two weeks ago, the authorities launched a helpline for final rites of Covid victims and included an online booking facility for bereaved families. They also announced the facility would be free of cost. Prasanna decided to cash in on the situation by convincing his clients he was making a booking for a spot at one of these mass crematoriums and collected between Rs 4,000 and Rs 6,000 for each body from families. The families didn’t realise they were being conned as he collected the victim’s details and called the BBMP helpline to book a slot. He collected extra money to transport bodies, police sources said.
Relative got suspicious
On Friday afternoon, Prasanna reached the Tavarekere mass crematorium with a woman’s body after collecting Rs 4,000 from her family. However, a family member got suspicious and called the BBMP helpline to check the status. He then realised the cremation was free and alerted BBMP about the fraud.
“The BBMP control room staff alerted us about the driver and his vehicle number. We waited till the cremation was over. Tavarekere police nabbed Prasanna and his vehicle after the last rites were completed,” said a taluk official at the crematorium.
A court remanded Prasanna in judicial custody.