The Bengaluru Police on Tuesday arrested a 30-year-old Uber driver for allegedly sexually harassing a 25-year-old techie inside his cab on February 1. The cab driver Ram Mohan was arrested from Hindupur located near the border between Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
The woman, who works at an IT company, is a resident of TC Palya. Around 6.30 pm on February 1, she hailed an Uber cab from Hebbal as she was returning home after visiting a friend. She reached KR Puram at around 7.15 pm and when the cab reached the junction near TC Palya, Ram Mohan allegedly pushed his seat back and held her leg.
When she threatened to scream and asked him to remove his hand from her leg, Ram Mohan allegedly pulled her t-shirt and tried to put his hands inside her top. The woman kicked and pushed at him, and tried to get out of the car when Ram Mohan allegedly locked the doors and began driving speedily.
Ram Mohan allegedly drove around for a while and began telling the woman that he would not let her go if she filed a police complaint. The woman agreed, telling him she would not go to the police, and then managed to convince him to let her go.
She did not inform anyone of the incident until much later, when she confided in her friends about the alleged ordeal. The woman’s friends convinced her to approach the police after which she filed a complaint on February 11. Ram Mohan, meanwhile, had absconded, police say.
"The complaint was filed on February 11 but the driver had absconded. His phone was switched off for a while. We tracked the mobile signal to Hindupur, which is his home town and arrested him," the KR Puram police said.
He will be produced before the magistrate in Bengaluru. Ram Mohan has been booked under section 354A (outraging the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code.