Bengaluru: If you are travelling in a cab, attached to an aggregator, without booking for it, then you are putting yourself in grave danger. This proved to be true in the recent brutal murder of a woman Bagaluru police station limits.
On July 31, the body of a woman, aged 35 years, was found at KIAL back gate with stab injuries all over her body. She was bludgeoned to death.
The incident had sent shock waves across the city. Bagaluru police, under directions of DCP North Bheema Shankar Guled and ACP Sampigehalli S.L. Shiva Kumar, have finally cracked the case and arrested Nagesh H.M. (22), an Ola cab driver and a resident of Hegganahalli near Sanjeevini Nagar. The dece ased has been identified as Pooja Singh, an event manager based in Kolkata.
Fatal mistake
Pooja came to Bengaluru on July 29 for an event management programme at a star hotel in Parappana Agrahara. From airport to hotel she had come by an Ola cab, driven by Nagesh, and told him to pick her up while returning to Kolkata on July 31.
She boarded the Ola cab at 4 am and left for the airport. However, Nagesh had different plans. He was hiding a knife under his seat and placed a jack near rear seat. Nagesh had assumed that Pooja was very rich, he could loot her of valuables. Since she had boarded the cab early morning, Pooja soon fell asleep.
The cab driver took her to an isolated place, stopped the car and woke her up. Brandishing a jack he told her to hand over the valuables. When Pooja resisted, he hit the jack on her head and she fell unconscious.
He then took her towards the back gate of KIAL near Kadarayappanahalli and again woke her up.
This time too she resisted. Nagesh took out his knife and stabbed her multiple times. He then rummaged through her bag, only to find Rs 500 and two credit cards.
He dragged Pooja out of the vehicle and while he was about to leave he found she was still alive. He then smashed her head with a hollow brick and fled.
Family could only touch Pooja’s body, not see her face
The parents and husband of Pooja Singh Dey (30), who was killed by a cab driver in the city, had to conduct the final rites without seeing her face but by merely touching the body, as the police had earlier buried the body after taking the permission of the government as they could not establish her identity.
When the police cracked the case, they informed her family members, who conducted the final rites accor ding to their tradition.
The police got the body exhu med from the burial ground and made arrangements for Pooja's family to conduct the rites. Her parents, brothers, husband and a few relatives were present. Her husband lit the pyre.
Just before she was killed, Pooja had messaged her husband at 4.45 am wishing him goodnight. Earlier, Pooja had told her brothers that she would be home for Raakhi and all of them would go for Baatla House, a Bollywood movie. She was married for seven years and the couple did not have any children.
After sending the message to her husband, Pooja had dozed off, failing to notice that the route had changed and the toll gate had passed.
The police said that those who travel by cabs should book them on ly online and to check the map and route. “It is advisable that they stay up till they reach their destination if they are travelling late at night,” the police said.
