BENGALURU: A 22-year-old nursing student’s claim of being gang-raped by a cab driver and his accomplices near Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal has been revealed as false. Police found CCTV footage and WhatsApp chats indicating a consensual encounter. The woman, who filed the complaint on Dec 6, allegedly fabricated the story to avoid her boyfriend’s questions about the scratch marks on her neck. The investigation is ongoing, and the driver, who has pleaded his innocence, remains in police custody. On the night of Dec 6, the nursing student from a private college and originally from Kerala, reported to Madiwala police station that she had been gang-raped by a cab driver and several of his friends inside the vehicle near Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal on the night of Dec 2.
In response, police quickly registered a gang-rape case and transferred it to Banaswadi police station due to jurisdictional issues. Before this transfer, senior police officers were informed of the incident, and based on the student’s statement, the driver was arrested at his residence in east Bengaluru.The cab driver, a 33-year-old father of two with a homemaker wife, was in shock upon hearing the allegations against him. Throughout the process, he maintained his innocence.Meanwhile, police reviewed CCTV footage from the incident location and were surprised to see the nursing student and the cab driver together at the railway station between 11.30pm on Dec 2 and 5.30am on Dec 3. Additionally, they were unable to find the alleged “gang members” mentioned by the student. The footage clearly showed the two moving together after exiting the cab, re-entering the vehicle during the night, and then walking around the station. Eventually, the woman boarded the Ernakulam train after 5.30am.Authorities also checked the cab driver’s WhatsApp messages and discovered that the nursing student had sent him numerous messages from Dec 3. Some of these messages suggested a consensual interaction and indicated a good relationship between them even after the encounter. Police then summoned the woman for questioning.When pressed, she admitted to have made the false claim to avoid her boyfriend’s questions about the scratch marks on her neck, which had occurred during her time in the vehicle with the cab driver. According to the cab driver, he was familiar with the student because they both were from Kerala, and he had dropped her off at the railway station that night. After getting into the cab, the nursing student had even called her boyfriend in Ernakulam to inform him that she would be catching the early-morning train. A costly affair
- On Dec 2, a nursing student takes a cab to SMVT railway station to board train to Ernakulam
- She calls her boyfriend in Ernakulam to inform she’s catching a 5.30am train
- Cab reaches the station. The student and driver walk around the station and spend the night in the car
- On Dec 6, student files gang-rape complaint against the driver and his friends
- Driver, a father of two, gets arrested. He maintains he’s innocent
- Police check CCTV footage and do not find driver’s friends and realise it was a consensual encounte
- WhatsApp messages on driver’s phone show student texting him from Dec 3, indicating good relationship between the two
- The complainant gets summoned. She confesses to have filed a false case to avoid her boyfriend’s questions about marks on her neck
