Rickshaw driver fails to stop, slapped with kidnap charge

An auto driver who didn’t understand his passenger’s instructions found himself arrested on charges of kidnapping, reports Satyajit Joshi.

An auto driver who didn’t understand his passenger’s instructions found himself arrested on charges of kidnapping.

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A teenage girl, Neha (name changed), travelling in Sunil Kate’s (32) rickshaw last week told him to stop, in English, when they were heading towards Aundh. But Kate kept driving, the police complaint filed by her says.

Fearing the worst, she jumped out of the moving rickshaw, injuring herself in the process.

The court, however, released the driver on bail after his lawyer explained the circumstances of the incident.

Neha boarded the rickshaw in the Model Colony area with two friends. While the friends got down after some time, she asked Kate to continue driving, the complaint lodged at Chatushrungi police station says.

Since she was talking on her mobile phone, she realised with a start that her destination had arrived, and told the driver to stop. Kate, who barely knows a few words of English, assumed she was still talking on her phone, his lawyer told the court.

Kate even claimed he took her to the nearest private hospital for treatment, from where she called her friends. She also contacted the police, who arrested Kate under charges of attempt to kidnap. He was in police custody for two days, after which the police produced him before judicial magistrate B.G. Itkalkar and asked for judicial custody.

Upholding the argument, the court released Kate on the bail.

A duty officer from Chatushrungi police station said, “Kate has been released on bail and further investigation are underway.”