BENGALURU: Over a week after a woman was allegedly harassed at HSR Layout, police are yet to make any headway in the investigation. Police said on Monday that they are yet to ascertain the whereabouts or identity of the accused. The accused was reportedly driving a stolen car, which has also not been traced.
Soon after the incident occurred on September 10, police were informed about it by eyewitnesses. A missing complaint for the car was also filed a few hours after the incident.
“We are trying to trace the vehicle. We suspect the culprit is a habitual vehicle thief. The investigation is on,” said a police official.The official added there were no CCTVs in the area, except at a service road.
A senior police officer, however, tried to play down the incident. He said it initially appeared during the probe that the car’s driver was only asking the woman for directions, as roads in HSR Layout had been dug up.The shocking incident, which highlighted the lack of safety of women in Bengaluru, occured near BDA complex, HSR Layout around 5.45am.
“On September 10, around 5.45 am, I was walking near JSS School to reach my workplace. An unidentified man, who was driving a red-coloured Qualis, followed me and stopped the car in front of me. He then started saying, “Come with me,” and misbehaved with me. So I had to take legal action against this person,” the 27-year-old woman stated in her complaint.
According to the FIR filed for the theft of the car at the same police station, the vehicle was stolen from Narayana Reddy, also a resident of HSR Layout. As per the FIR filed by Reddy, he had parked his car near his residence on the night of September 9, and he found it missing at 8.30 am on September 10. The FIR was registered at 11 am.