A Kannada singer, who has lent her voice in several Sandalwood movies, was reportedly molested in the moving vehicle after she booked an Ola taxi in Bengaluru on Friday, April 28. A case has been registered in this regard at the Bommanahalli police station in the city, with investigation into the incident underway.
The singer had booked the cab from Begur — off Bangalore-Hosur highway — and a silver ata Indica car, driven by one Ravi Kumar, had come up. The woman had got into the car, and after driving for some time, the driver had taken a detour near the posh Koramangala area in South Bengaluru. He then stopped the car at a desolate location, turned back and tried to molest her.
The singer said in her complaint that no one came to help her even as she screamed and shouted when the driver tried to molest her. She then somehow managed to get out of the car and go to a nearby hospital in Bommanahalli for medical assistance. She also called up some of her friends to fetch her from the hospital.
The singer, who is said to be in her 20s, waited at the hospital till her friends arrived, and proceeded with them to the hospital to lodge a complaint against Ravi Kumar, armed with the information given to her by the Ola app when she booked the cab.
Local reports said Ola has since apologised for the incident and derostered and blacklisted the driver. The police have also launched a manhunt to track him down, because he has been absconding since the incident. The cops, however, are optimistic because they are armed with the information about Ravi Kumar that has been handed to them by Ola.
Ola subsequently reached out to IBTimes India and said in a statement: "We have terminated the driver partner from the Ola platform as soon as we received a complaint from the customer. Safety of users is of utmost importance to us and we have zero-tolerance towards any such behaviour. We have assured the customer of full support in further investigation of the issue."
Bengaluru has been mostly a safe city for women. However, that reputation chaged due to the mass molestation case that took place in the city in the early hours of January 1 this year. Since then, several cases of molestation and rape have been reported in the city.
