Groped, phone snatched, architect jumps from speeding Rapido bike in Bengaluru

A 30-year-old woman said she had to jump from a moving Rapido bike to save herself from a taxi driver who sexually harassed her and tried to take her to the wrong destination.

On April 21 night, Kumari (name changed), an architect, booked a Rapido bike to Indiranagar. The bike taxi picked her up at 11.10 pm. The rider took her phone on the pretext of checking the OTP. Instead of going to Indiranagar, he headed to Doddaballapura.

Despite Kumari asking why the rider was travelling in the wrong direction, he remained silent and continued riding the bike. Narrating the ordeal to DH, the woman and her friend said he was clocking 60 kmph.

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Kumari had to snatch her phone from him and realised he was drunk. The man snatched it right back and cranked up the speed. The rider also groped her. Kumari snatched her phone and dialled a friend in Indiranagar for help.

She jumped off the speeding bike near BMS Institute of Technology and Management (BMSIT) and sustained injuries. The biker sped away with her phone. College guards and passersby helped her call a friend in her hometown and another friend in Indiranagar. CCTV cameras captured her jump from the bike.

Cops refused to help

Kumari's friend rushed from Indiranagar to the JB Nagar police station to inform the officers that his friend was in trouble and her phone was turned off. However, the officers declined his request to trace Kumari's location. He quoted police as saying that it was a “a girlfriend and boyfriend problem”.

"I had to wait for 20 minutes to get a response after speaking to a police sub-inspector and making a phone call to 112. Only after that, they spoke to the Yelahanka police. We rushed to the spot, went to the Yelahanka police, and filed a complaint," he told DH.

Though the accused registered a Honda Activa with Rapido, he came to pick Kumari on a Bajaj Pulsar. The taxi aggregator did not contact Kumari till date.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) Laxmi Prasad said: “The accused has been arrested. He had taken her to the wrong location and misbehaved with her.”

A senior police officer said they arrested Deepak Rao, a 27-year-old Tindlu resident, on Sunday. Rao has been remanded to judicial custody.

“We have booked him for sexual harassment, kidnapping, assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty and causing hurt by acts endangering life or personal safety of others,” the officer said.