BENGALURU: A 28-year-old woman, allegedly bundled into a car in full public view from
Whitefield on Sunday night, returned home early Monday, police claimed. The incident had led to a flurry of WhatsApp posts which tracked live the vehicle’s movement.
Bellandur police, who were alerted about the abduction within minutes of the incident, however, failed to track the woman despite active citizens posting the location of the car, its registration details and producing
CCTV footages.
“Based on the woman’s statement, we have taken up a kidnap case and have formed three special teams led by deputy commissioner of police
Abdul Ahad to investigate the matter,” police commissioner T Suneel Kumar said on Monday evening.
The woman, a swimming coach, and her mother, who stay near
Kasavanahalli Main Road, claimed that she had gone out on her own. But later in the day the woman was admitted to a private hospital in Koramangala. Prasheela, a woman sub-inspector from Marathahalli police station, was summoned to counsel the woman and take her statement late evening.
“The sequence of events needs to be verified by way of investigation,” Ahad said.
TURN OF EVENTS
It all began around 9.15pm when eyewitnesses alerted police that moments earlier they saw a woman being forcibly taken away in front of Confident Phoenix apartment, Kasavanahalli Main Road.
“A white Tata Indica bearing Tamil Nadu licence plate stopped near a medical shop opposite the apartment. The girl was standing near the medical shop and a man approached her, forcing her into the car. As she resisted and kicked the door, the car sped away,” police were told.
NEWS WENT VIRAL
With several people witnessing the incident, it did not take long for the news to go viral. Residents of Kasavanahalli, Bellandur and Sarjapur were soon posting messages about the abduction and the vehicle used with its registration number. Soon, people began tracking the car. “Moving towards Sarjapur. 3 people in the back seat confirmed,” one post read.
Sudrashan S, a software engineer and resident of Kasavanahalli told TOI that the incident was a good example of how social media could be of help. “The message was passed on to at least 7,000 residents and to police. In no time, residents living near Phoenix apartment came forward with CCTV footages showing the incident. The footages were immediately handed over to police,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Bellandur police sources had said that the woman stayed near Kasavanahalli Main Road. “She had left home in the afternoon after a fight with her mother. It is true that she was forced into the car. But it is a family dispute. The man who forced the girl into the car was her cousin,” they added.
“We received another whatssapp message at 12.15am, saying the woman has been found. We were wondering what happened to her and what was the incident all about. But police told us that it was a family issue,” said another resident.
Representative Image
