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BENGALURU: A senior manager with a software company on her way back from Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) was abandoned by an Ola cab driver in the middle of a poorly lit Begur Road at 3.30am on Monday after she insisted he take the tolled Ballari Road.

The incident comes two months after Bengaluru was rattled by the news of the murder of a 32-year-old Kolkata model and event manager by her cabbie on Begur Road. She was on the way to KIA from her Electronics City hotel when the incident took place.

Raksha (name changed), who had landed in Bengaluru after a trip to Colombo, told TOI it was 3.18am when she boarded the cab to reach her Indiranagar home.

‘Ola responded only after founder tagged’

Within 10 minutes, I realised the cabbie was driving on Begur Road instead of the tolled NH-44 that I usually take. I asked him to turn around. He continued to drive, saying he was following the map,” the 32-year-old recalled. “There is no highway and this is the right way,” Raksha quoted the cabbie as telling her.

“I was reminded of the Kolkata woman who was murdered around the same time on July 31. I told the driver to stop the car and return to the airport. I pressed the emergency button on the Ola app around 3.30am. That’s when he asked me to get off the cab,” she said.

“I was asked to alight on a deserted road with no streetlights, which I think was inhuman. I rang up a friend who had arrived in the same flight as mine and requested him to pick me up,” Raksha said.

She told the driver to call his supervisor but he was on the phone speaking in Kannada. “For some reason, he thought I didn’t understand the language and told his supervisor ‘I was drunk and wasn’t letting him drive and follow the map’. At that point, I got off the car,” Raksha recalled. Her friend, who was behind her in an Uber cab, picked her up.

The woman was in for a bigger shock when she approached the cab aggregator by pressing the emergency button. “I received a support call, but the caller placed it on hold, saying it would be transferred to the supervisor and then just hung up,” said Raksha. She received an email from the firm at 3.41am, stating her issue has been resolved and ticket closed. “At 5.31am, a supervisor called me after I tweeted to Ola support and tagged the company’s founder,” she said.

On Monday evening, Raksha lodged a complaint with KIA police about the incident. Police said they have asked cab aggregators not to let drivers take Begur Road once it gets dark.

Driver suspended

An Ola spokesperson said, “We regret the incident and suspended the driver after receiving the complaint. Our safety response team has been in contact with the customer and continues to offer the required support. We have shared the necessary information with the authorities.”

