New Delhi, July 2 -- A dangerous and highly cruel social media prank has taken over the streets of the national capital. Tech-savvy youngsters and pranksters are using a mobile application named BAT-BMS to scan for nearby Bluetooth-enabled lithium battery packs on e-rickshaws (locally nicknamed "tirris"), using the connection to instantly flip the discharge switch and disable moving vehicles mid-transit.

Because many low-cost, Chinese-manufactured battery units are deployed with no default security protocols, passwords, or authentication steps, anyone standing within a 10-15-meter range can hijack the motor's power flow, leaving drivers completely stranded in heavy traffic.

The malicious trend has faced intense blowback after digital co...