The driver, Babu Rajendra Prasad (28) was arrested on Monday and charged with a welter of cases including molestation, criminal intimidation, assault, robbery and for charging extra auto fare. He was arrested and sent to judicial custody till January 18.
The Byappanahalli police are full of praise for the housewife, Prachi Singh Patil, wife of a computer engineer and a resident of Byrasandra in C V Raman Nagar. Prachi hails from Uttar Pradesh.
On January 2, around 11 am, Patil engaged an autorickshaw to reach Mayo Hall. At Old Madras Road junction, she noticed that the auto meter was faulty and brought this to the driver’s notice. Prasad asked her to pay Rs 50 and get out of the vehicle.
Shocked at his insolence, Patil tried to get out of the auto. But the driver physically blocked her way and amid abuses demanded that she pay. When she tried to evade him, he pulled at her dress and created a scene.
Drama recorded
None came to her rescue on the busy highway. Patil was not daunted. with her dress torn at her shoulder, she she pulled out her mobile phone and managed to record the entire drama on camera.
When things started going out of control, she called the jurisdictional police Sub-Inspector Santosh.
Interestingly, though the picture quality of the mobile video was poor, the audio was clear and was enough to pin the accused.
By the time the police team arrived, the driver smelt trouble and took to his heels. After a manhunt, he was arrested from a temple at K R Puram where he was in hiding. A repentant Prasad confessed that he had misbehaved in a fit of anger.
Phone number
A few days ago, the Byappanahalli police had conducted a crime prevention drive in the area. During the drive, they visited apartments, met the committee members and circulated a write-up on the do’s and don'ts containing police phone numbers to be contacted in case of emergency. This came in handy for Patil as she had stored the cell phone number of the police in her mobile.
In fact, in her complaint, after submitting the video/audio recordings, she thanked the City police for their timely help.
According to the police, a conviction could carry punishment of upto nine months.
Chain snatched
A 60-year-old woman lost her mangalsutra valued at Rs 1 lakh to chain snatchers while she was drawing rangoli in front of her house in Rajajinagar 5th Block on Monday early morning.
The complainant Vijayalakshmi has stated that around 6.30 am, when she was engrossed in drawing rangoli, two youth who came on a bike picked up a conversation. Before she could suspect a foul play, the pillion rider who got down from the vehicle snatched her gold chain and the duo fled from the place.
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