BENGALURU: A 22-year-old woman underwent a horrifying experience when the driver of the Ola cab in which she was travelling started showing her a porn video on August 23 morning. The woman works with a start-up company in JP Nagar and she had booked the cab from Yelahanka New Town to reach her workplace.
The woman has complained to the Cubbon Park police station, but the accused driver, named Devasomalia, remains absconding even three days after the incident. He was allegedly given the vehicle by the authorised owner-driver, who has been detained for questioning to track down the accused. In her complaint to police, the Ola passenger has alleged that as they were passing via Queen’s Road, the driver held up his mobile phone facing her to show her a porn video.
Embarrassed and scared, she asked him to stop the cab immediately. But he continued driving saying that her destination was yet to arrive. As soon as she reached her office, she called her friends and narrated the incident. She then approached Cubbon Park police station. Police found that the authorised owner-driver was different from the one actually driving the victim. The owner-driver was detained to get further details about Devasomalia whose name was also given out to police by him.
Police have found that the app accessed by the victim carries Devasomalia’s details, but the photo is that of the owner-driver. “If violation is proved, action would be taken not only against the detained owner-driver and the accused but also against the company—Ola,” said a police source.
The victim told The New Indian Express that the driver Devasomalia spoke in Hindi and told her that he hailed from Madhya Pradesh. She did contact the Ola customer service centre to inform them about it but she was told that it was her fault for not verifying details of the driver before boarding the cab.
When contacted, an Ola spokesperson said: “We are assisting police to nab the absconding driver and we have shared the necessary information. Soon after the incident, the owner-driver was removed from the Ola platform. We are deeply disturbed by this incident. We are finding the facts and also introducing a selfie authentication system in which the driver has to send his selfie before the ride to prevent such incidents.”
NOT THE FIRST SUCH CASE
June 1, 2018: A 26-year-old woman architect booked a cab from Kodihalli to reach Airport. Around 2.30 am, Ola driver Arun took the Kothanuru Road. On the way, he locked the doors and started sexually harassing her. He also threatened her of gang-rape if she tried to escape.
December 5, 2017: An Ola driver, Rajashekar Reddy, misbehaved with a woman on the Outer Ring Road and locked the car doors during the ride. She started banging on the door following which he stopped misbehaving.
April 28, 2017: A female singer heading home from a pub in Koramangala was molested by Ola driver Imran. She managed to escape from the cab.
May 15, 2016: An Ola driver Manjunath alias Kiran attempted to misbehave with a woman during the travel. As she raised an alarm, he abandoned the cab and fled the spot.