Ola driver dumps woman on isolated Begur road at 3.30am

Bengaluru: Nearly two months after the murder of a 32-year-old Kolkata model by her cabbie on Begur Road, an Ola woman passenger was abandoned by her driver in the middle of a poorly lit Begur Road at 3.30 am on Monday following a dispute over the choice of the route.

Narrating her ordeal the victim who had hailed a cab to her home from Kempegowda International Airport said that upon realising that her cabbie had taken the Begur road route, she asked him to turn around and take the tolled route. However, the cabbie insisted that he was following the map.

Further, she said that she asked the driver to stop the car and return to the airport and even pressed the emergency button on the Ola app around 3.30 am. Though the victim got a support call after she hit the emergency button, the caller put her on hold saying she would be connected to a supervisor and hung up shortly after.

Meanwhile, the cabbie spoke to a supervisor and alleged that the victim was inebriated and not letting him follow the map whereafter he asked her to get off the car and left her stranded on the Begur road, she said.

The victim later called up a friend to pick her up.

Reacting to the recent incident, City police commissioner Bhaskar Rao said that cab aggregators have been directed not to take alternative routes (without toll) to Kempegowda International Airport via Bagalur between 7 pm and 7 am. Despite the instructions, the drivers have been taking this route which at present is not safe for women after dark.

“These cab aggregators can map their routes barring the (alternative) route during the night and they have to do it,” Rao added.