12 Kolkata: A woman returning home on an app bike lodged a complaint of harassment and assault against the biker, alleging he misbehaved with her throughout the ride for making a prepaid online payment. He refused to drop her at the exact location in New Town, and when she argued, the man pushed her off the bike. While doing so, the bike fell on her, leaving her injured.
The incident occurred outside a gated community in Jyangra on Rajarhat Main Road on Saturday night when the woman was returning to her in-laws' place from her parents' home in Lake Town. Even after two days, the biker has been not been arrested as cops said they were still trying to trace him.
According to the complaint, the woman's father booked the app bike for her and, for her convenience, paid for the ride in advance around 10:15 pm on Saturday. "I told the OTP to the driver, who then realised that the ride was prepaid and began misbehaving with me. He said he was looking for a cash transaction and was upset over the online payment. He began driving at a very high speed. I asked him to slow down, but he wouldn't listen and kept taking sharp turns. I feared I would fall at any moment," said Vasundhara Roy Chowdhury (32), who works at a private firm in Sector V.
Roy Chowdhury said he drove so fast that she reached near her home in 10 minutes. "He stopped the bike at the flank opposite my apartment complex. I requested him to take a U-turn and drop me at the apartment gate, which was the actual drop location. But the man was adamant and rude and refused to ride across the street," she said.
When she kept insisting, Roy Chowdhury claimed the man pushed her off his bike, and in the process, he himself lost control of the vehicle. The two-wheeler landed on her when she fell on the road. "I suffered multiple injuries, and my phone was damaged. As I screamed for help, the man picked up the bike and sped off," the woman said.
Immediately after the incident, Roy Chowdhury lodged a complaint against the biker on the app bike platform. On Sunday, she went to Baguiati police station and lodged a police complaint against the rider, Shankar. "When I lodged a complaint against him on the platform, I received a call when the representative said the man was a habitual offender and that they would be blocking him from their system," she said.
Cops have started a case under BNS sections 126 (2) [wrongful restraint], 281 (rash driving), 115 (2) [voluntarily causing hurt], 352 (intentional assault), 324 (4) [mischief]. "We are tracing the CCTV footage and have also asked for the man's details from the app bike platform. We have got leads and will soon arrest him," said an officer of Bidhannagar City Police.
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