Driving instructor, accomplice held for abduction, robbery of woman in Pune

PUNE: Two men were arrested by Pune police on Friday for abduction and robbery of a 35-year-old female techie in the city under the guise of driving classes on Tuesday.

The two were identified as Rajesh Singh Mahi (39) a resident of Meerut area of Uttar Pradesh and Krishna Ram Bahadur Rana (30) a resident of Mahipalpur in Delhi. The arrest was made from Delhi by a team led by police sub-inspector Somnath Shendage of Unit 5 of Pune police crime branch.

“Rana had arrived in Pune on the day before the crime. Mahi is a stud farm worker and a driver and Rana runs a chicken shop in Gurugram. They have been arrested in Delhi and are being brought to Pune for further investigation,” said Bachchan Singh, deputy commissioner of police, crime, Pune.

The two men took an Ola cab to Mumbai and thereafter a flight to Delhi on the day of the crime, according to the police.

The two had robbed a 35-year-old woman after abducting her in the morning hours of Tuesday form Salunkhe Vihar area. They drove her around while making her transfer money and robbing her of gold ornaments before dropping her home and fleeing, according to the police.

While the woman is an IT engineer, her father is a retired Indian Army officer, according to the police.

Mahi used to teach the woman how to drive a car in the morning hours and on Thursday morning; the man arrived with his friend and suggested that they take the lesson in her father’s car.

A case under Sections 342 (wrongful restraint), 363 (kidnapping), 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code was registered at Kondhwa police station.