Hyderabad: Community closed circuit cameras helped police catch the driver of a cab who molested his woman passenger and this in turn solved a four-month-old case of rape of a minor.
The Ola cab driver, Kandukuri Naga Madhu Kiran, was arrested by Kushaiguda police on Sunday for molesting a woman passenger a week ago. After being taken into custody, police say that Kiran confessed to another crime - raping a 10-year-old girl in October 2017 and admitted that he often attempted to force himself on women.
Kiran was a standby driver for his friend Mahesh who owned two cars that he hired out to Ola. Kiran was paid Rs 50 per trip. On the night of January 5, around 11 pm, he dropped an Ola passenger in the Chakripuram area, and was proceeding towards Radhika crossroads for another Ola pick up when the trip was cancelled. He spotted a woman, waiting at Radhika crossroads to go to her home in Malkajgiri after doing some shopping, and offered her a ride.
Joint Commissioner of Police, Rachakonda, Tarun Joshi, said that a little into the journey Kiran diverted from the route he was supposed to take and when the woman questioned him, he told her that there was a new booking and asked her to sit in the rear seat. After she sat in the rear seat, he activated the central locking system and forced himself on her. When she resisted and raised the alarm, he left her and sped away.
“During inquiry, he confessed that he had kidnapped and raped a 10-year-old girl by tying her hands and legs and later abandoned her at Yapral in October 2017. A case had been registered in that incident, but we had no clues until now,” Mr Joshi said. He added that Kiran had the reputation of being a womaniser, frequenting sex workers and having affairs.
Investigating officers say he started out by going to sex workers, but recently he has been forcing himself on any woman he thought was an easy target. He trapped the minor girl by befriending her before he raped her. Police say his employer Mahesh was not aware of Kiran’s criminal behaviour.
