Cabbie poses as cop, rapes college girl in B'luru

A 32-year-old man was arrested for kidnapping and raping a minor girl by posing as a police officer and threatening her with a fake gun, at Yelahanka New Town in Bengaluru.

The accused, identified as Srikanth R, runs a mobile shop and also owns a cab, which he drives for a cab aggregator.

The police said the minor girl was sitting in a park with her male friend after her college in Yelahanka New Town on Monday, July 23. Around 3.30 pm, Srikanth went to the park posing as a police officer from the Crime Branch and shooed them away by showing a cigarette lighter which resembled a gun. The boy ran in one direction and the girl in another. Srikanth followed the girl and forced her into his cab after threatening her.

Police said he snatched her mobile phone to prevent her from making calls. He later demanded Rs 5,000 from the girl, who said she didn’t have any money and would give him the following day. He later drove her around for one hour around Yelahanka and molested her inside the cab after pointing the fake gun at her.

He then took her to his rented house in Chikkabommasandra by threatening her with the fake gun and raped her. His wife had gone to her parents’ house following the Ashada month.

Srikanth was a resident of Judicial Layout and after his marriage, he shifted to the rented house in Chikkabommasandra near Yelahanka New Town two months ago.

Before dropping the girl at the bus stop near Yelahanka police station, Srikanth again warned her saying he knew which college she went to and if she complained to the police, he would kill her.

The girl went to her house in Hebbal and narrated the incident to her mother, who filed a complaint with the Yelahanka New Town police.

The victim gave the police Srikanth’s car registration number. The police tracked him down and arrested him on Thursday.

DCP Northeast Kala Krishnaswamy said he was booked under rape, kidnap and various sections under POCSO. Srikanth was produced before the magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.