Cab driver held for harassing college student

PUNE: A 26-year-old cab driver was arrested on Tuesday on the charge of outraging the modesty of a college student during a trip from New Sangvi to Koregaon Park on the night of May 14.

The student, a resident of New Sangvi, had booked the cab for going to a birthday party in Koregaon Park. The driver allegedly took the cab towards Dehu Road and misbehaved with her. The student escaped from there and reached home with the help of an autorickshaw driver. The following day, she approached the Sangvi police and lodged a complaint. The case was later transferred to the Dehu Road police for investigation.

Senior inspector Vijay Waghmare of the Dehu Road police said the police did not have any clue about the driver except his cellphone number. He was also changing his location to avoid the police. "Sub-inspector Ajay Rathod and his team arrested the driver, Rahul Mhaske of Thergaon, with the help of technical investigation," Waghmare said.

He said the 28-year-old student hailed from outside Maharashtra and she was pursuing her post-graduation from a city-based college. She had been staying in the Sangvi area, Waghmare said.

According to the college student, she wanted to go to the Koregaon Park area to attend her friend's birthday party late at night on May 14. She had booked a cab.

"The student stated in her complaint that when she was about to reach the destination, the driver told her that he wanted to refill gas in the cab and drove towards Dehu Road," Waghmare said.

He said according to the complainant, the area the cab was heading to was unknown to her. She then became suspicious and even tried to open the door of the moving cab.

"The student stated that the driver then stopped the cab and tried to outrage her modesty. She escaped from there and ran away from the spot," the officer said.

Waghmare said the college student stated that she had stopped an autorickshaw driver in the early hours of May 15 and reached Sangvi.

"Later in the day, she approached the Sangvi police and lodged the complaint," he said.

Inspector Mahesh Bansode of the Sangvi police said the student did not know any languages other than her mother tongue and English. "We took help of an interpreter, who knew her language, and translated her version for us," Bansode said.

He said the student gave the police the cab's registration number and shared the entire route of the trip, which was recorded in the app. "According to the student, the cab driver took a detour under the pretext of refilling gas in his vehicle when the app was showing Koregaon Park, the destination of the complainant, was barely seven minutes away. The student became suspicious when she found the area unknown to her and the app showed it would take more than an hour to reach her destination (Koregaon Park)," Bansode said.

The officer said the police immediately registered the case and sent a woman police officer with the college student. "The officer visited all the spots where the student visited that night. The case was later transferred to the Dehu Road police," Bansode said.

Sub-inspector Ajay Rathod said the arrested cab driver did not have any previous criminal records. He was driving his friend's cab and the latter's office was in Lonavla.

"The suspect has been remanded in police custody for two days. He claimed that he had told the woman that he needed to refill the gas in the car. We are questioning him on why he went till Dehu Road and what was his intention," Rathod said.