Mumbai: Ola driver lures woman, molests her in his car, then asks to be friends

The RAK Marg police arrested an Ola cab driver on Thursday night for kidnapping and molesting a 32-year-old woman from Sewri.

Police said the accused, Shadabh Mohommad Ibrahim Shaikh, is a Ghatkopar resident. The woman is a homemaker.

On April 10, the woman was on her way to pick up her seven-year-old son from school. En route, she was approached by Shaikh, who coerced her into sitting in his cab, said police.

"Shaikh told her he was looking for a babysitter. After they spoke for a while, he convinced her to sit in his cab," said an officer of the RAK Marg police, who did not wish to be identified.

"Once the woman sat next to him, the driver pounced on her and asked her to be his friend. He insisted that she give him her mobile number and even snatched her phone. When the woman resisted, Shaikh started the car. She tried to raise the alarm, but realised that he had locked all the doors and rolled up the windows," he added.

The police said the



woman grabbed the cab's steering wheel, but Shaikh overpowered her. She finally managed to open one of the car's doors and intended to jump out though Shaikh was driving fast. It was then that he finally parked the car. "The driver got scared on seeing that the woman was about to jump. He stopped the vehicle. The woman asked him to return her phone. When he refused, she fled," said an officer.

Police traced the driver through the woman's mobile phone.

"Shaikh gave the woman's phone to his wife, who sold it for Rs500 as she needed money to pay for her son's treatment. We traced the shop owner when he started using the phone. He told us who he bought the phone from, which led us to Shaikh," said an officer from the RAK Marg police.

The accused was booked under sections 354 (assault on woman to outrage her modesty), 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person), 392 (punishment for robbery) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the IPC.