BENGALURU: A trip to Karnataka turned a nightmare for a family from South Africa. The family booked a taxi to Bandipur where its driver robbed them of Rs 20,000 and other valuables when they were in the forest. The police are now interrogating the driver. It all began when James (name changed), his wife and two daughters were on a visit to Surat for a wedding when they were told that Bengaluru was a good place to visit. Without hesitation, James booked a taxi through a private travel website from Bengaluru to Bandipur.
Upon reaching Bengaluru airport, the driver assigned to them, Narendra (35), picked them up and drove them to Bandipur forests. He allegedly asked them to walk around the forests. When the family returned, they found the cab had gone along with their luggage with Rs 20,000 and other valuables.“I booked another taxi from Bandipur and luckily I had already booked a room at Ooty. We went there and stayed for two days,” James said. The Wilson Garden police station referred the case to the City Control Room.
“One of James’ daughters had noted down the taxi number and so we were able to trace the address to a house in Chikkaballapur. However, the man at the address informed us that he had sold the vehicle and he gave us a mobile number. We tracked down the driver who was found at KIA,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (control room) Ajay Kumar.
Since the family would not able to leave the country with a pending police case, their friend residing in Bengaluru filed a case on their behalf at the Airport police station, the station inspector told TNIE. Kumar said that this could be a mafia involving drivers who target foreigners. “The driver must be part of the mafia to cheat customers,” he said.