By Ananya Sharma 
Bengaluru, October 6: For people living in Koramangala, the past few weeks have felt strange as if the neighbourhood that once stood for Bengaluru’s easy charm has been slipping into disorder. In the space of days, there’s been a mob attack, a fatal construction collapse, a building on the verge of falling, and the usual chaos of traffic and rain. It’s as if the city’s growing pains have decided to settle right here.
The Poker Club That Turned Into A Battlefield
Late on Sunday, Cauvery Colony saw a scene few would have imagined. Members of Namma Karnataka Sene, a pro-Kannada group known for their sudden “moral” missions, barged into a poker club called Golden Aces. Inside, regulars were playing cards. Within minutes, the place was in shambles.
“They smashed tables, threw things around, shouted that gambling was ruining the youth,” a witness told reporters. The News Minute said police detained ten of them, though all were released later on station bail.
The club owner has filed a complaint. He says his staff were roughed up, property damaged, and that the group acted on rumours. The cops are going through CCTV footage to figure out what actually happened.
That same group didn’t stop there. According to India Today, they also stormed an online gaming company’s office in the same area, accusing it of running illegal games. Computers were damaged, employees terrified.
This tension has been simmering for a while. Karnataka’s attempt to ban online gaming back in 2021 was struck down by the High Court, but the state never really clarified what’s allowed and what isn’t. As a result, Koramangala, full of startups and gaming venture,s has become a grey zone. One where activists, entrepreneurs, and police all read the law differently.
“Even if you’re running a legal skill-based game, you can still get raided,” a small gaming café owner said quietly. “No one wants trouble.”
The Collapse That Should Never Have Happened
Barely a week earlier, another tragedy unfolded just a few lanes away. In Siddharth Colony, a construction site collapsed when mud from a deep excavation gave way. Two workers died on the spot. Another was pulled out alive, badly injured.
Locals said the contractor had dug nearly 20 feet down without any kind of safety wall. The Times of India reported that there were no barricades, no warning signs, and no soil support, basic measures that could have saved lives.
It wasn’t an isolated lapse. A few days later, in Koramangala I Block, a five-storey building began to tilt dangerously. It stood on a tiny 750-square-foot plot, much taller than regulations allow. The BBMP ordered its demolition before it came crashing down.
Residents nearby spent a tense night on the street. “The building next to mine had cracked walls,” said one woman. “We thought it would fall any minute.”
This pattern of ignored notices, unmonitored construction, and civic silence has become Koramangala’s worst-kept secret. Builders push limits, inspectors look away, and residents end up living beside disaster.
Crime, Chaos And The Everyday Mess
Police have had their hands full. In Venkatapura, a neighbourhood tucked behind Sony World, Varthur police arrested a real estate agent with a stash of stolen two-wheelers and LPG cylinders. They say he was part of a small network that supplied stolen materials to construction sites.
It sounds like petty crime, but officers insist it points to something larger a thriving parallel economy feeding off Koramangala’s relentless redevelopment. “It’s not just theft,” one official said. “It’s a whole system built on cutting corners.”
The Metro Keeps Slipping Away
And then, the everyday misery traffic. The Pink Line of the Bengaluru Metro, which residents hoped would ease pressure on Koramangala’s roads, has been delayed again. The Times of India confirmed the line won’t open before May 2026.
For commuters, that means more long drives, more fumes, more frustration. At Sony Signal or Forum Mall Junction, tempers flare daily. “I spend more time stuck in traffic than with my family,” said a tech worker who lives near Adugodi. “Every new promise feels like a joke now.”
The weather office expects moderate rain today, a blessing for the air but a curse for the roads. Every shower digs new potholes, every repair adds to the gridlock.
A Neighbourhood On The Edge
Koramangala used to represent a balanced part-residential, part-commercial, a place where the old and new Bengaluru could coexist. But that balance feels fragile now. The mob attacks, the accidents, the illegal buildings, the petty crimes, they all hint at a neighbourhood running out of room and patience.
Urban planners say this is what happens when development outpaces governance. Too many builders, too few inspectors. Too many laws, too little clarity. “Koramangala’s not failing,” said one city expert, “it’s just being stretched to breaking point.”
The BBMP has promised tighter checks, and the police have stepped up surveillance in gaming zones. People have heard that before. For many residents, the only real certainty is that things will stay uncertain at least until something else goes wrong.
As rain clouds drift over the city tonight, Koramangala’s skyline glitters with the light of half-finished buildings. Somewhere beneath that glow, there’s frustration, fatigue, and the uneasy sense that Bengaluru’s most famous neighbourhood is learning the hard way what happens when a city grows faster than its conscience.
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- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
