Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Dec 6: In a shocking incident, an Ola cab driver in Bengaluru allegedly tried to molest a woman and prevented her from escaping by activating child lock in his car.
The 23-year-old woman who works as a fashion stylist had hailed an Ola cab to travel from Indiranagar to BTM Layout at 10.30 pm on Sunday, December 3rd. The cab driver who is identified as Rajashekhar Reddy stopped the car when he found a lonely spot on the Intermediate Ring Road on the way to Koramangala. He then tried touching the woman inappropriately.
While, the woman tried to escape, he activated the child lock and she was not able to open the door. However, the woman started banging the windows and created a commotion after which he let her out. Even after the woman alighted from the car, he started following her making indecent gestures. The woman ran for 500 meters till she reached the Ejipura traffic signal.
The driver was banned after the woman complained to the cab aggregator. On Monday, the woman received six calls from Reddy, who not only berated her for complaining to Ola about his behaviour, but also threatened to cause her harm, saying that he knew where she stayed.
The woman then approached Madiwala police station. When the police investigated, Reddy defended saying that he did not molest the woman and only tried to help her open the door which was child-locked.
The woman did not file a formal complaint and the police let go Reddy after stern warning.
Meanwhile, Ola representatives have confirmed that Reddy has been suspended after the complaint and the company representative will probe the issue.
"We regret the unfortunate experience the customer had during their ride. We have zero tolerance to such incidents and the driver has been suspended from the platform as an immediate action upon receiving the complaint. We have also urged the customer to lodge a formal complaint with the authorities. Safety of customers is our priority and we will continue to extend our full support to this investigation against the said driver," the company said.