TINTED GLASS, CURTAINS NOT REMOVED FROM VANS, CABS

Prevention could have been better than cure. But once the damage was done, the city police moved swiftly on Tuesday to nab both the accused who allegedly raped the 22-year-old BPO staffer on Saturday night in a Tempo Traveller (TT) van.A vague clue given by the victim led the police to the alleged rapists. The arrested persons are drivers of the TT van, attached to a tech firm, HGS Limited, Bengaluru police commissioner NS Megharikh said on Tuesday evening. During her statement to the police, the victim had narrated an account of what happened with her after she had boarded a TT van near Bommanahalli. The HGS Limited campus is located in Vajpayee Nagar, Hosur Main Road, Bommanahalli, from where the TT van was departing.She had given a registration number of the vehicle, but was not sure whether the last-but-one digit was ‘5’ or ‘6’. All that she remembered was the make of the vehicle, its colour and that the number was KA 03 1853 or 63. She told the police that she had also seen a caricature and a logo of a company on the front windshield of the van.The registration number was the only hope for the police because most of the TT vans are white in colour and it was very difficult for the police to trace it based on just the make and colour of the vehicle. Megharikh said three police teams were formed soon after recording the victim’s statement on Monday after she was discharged from St John’s Hospital.One team was asked to focus on close circuit television (CCTV) footages available with the traffic and law & order police stations to look for vehicles which were seen on the road on Saturday night in Madiwala and Koramangala areas. Another team was asked to get in touch with the transport department to verify both the options of the vehicle’s registration numbers given by the victim and trace its owner.The third team was directed to get in touch with the transport wings of tech firms located in and around Electronic City, Madiwala and Koramangala.When all the three teams were engaged in their respective assignments, a tip-off came stating that a white coloured TT van bearing registration number KA03 B 1863 is attached to the tech firm HGS.The police went on its trail and traced the owner with the help of records maintained by the transport department. It belonged to a person identified as L Shankar, alias Murali, who was the second owner. Shankar was traced, but he informed the police that he had attached his vehicle to SRS Travels.The police then summoned the staffers of the SRS Travels, a big supplier of cabs/vans/buses for tech firms.The police found from SRS Travels duty records that a person identified as Yogesh was the driver of the van and he was the one who drove it on Saturday night. They led the police to Yogesh on Monday night. Yogesh was at SRS Travels head office in Wilson Garden, and was said to be completely under the influence of alcohol when he was taken into custody.However, later when he was questioned, Yogesh not only confessed to raping the girl but also told the police about his accomplice. He said “I was drunk. Sunil, a cousin of mine who is also a driver attached to the same SRS travels was with me in the van when we raped the girl. He was also drunk at that time,” he is reported to have told the police.Both Yogesh and Sunil hail from Chikkamagalur, the police said.The police then went in search of Sunil. They learnt from the HGS’s travel wing that Sunil had gone to bring employees for the afternoon shift in the same vehicle in which the girl was raped. They also informed the police that Sunil would arrive at HGS campus in Bommanahalli by 2.30 pm on Tuesday.The police waited for him in mufti. The transport wing of HGS cooperated with the police by alerting them when Sunil was approaching the campus.Sunil was asked to bring the vehicle to the service road. After the employees disembarked, the policemen swooped down on Sunil and took him into custody, driving him to the place where Yogesh was being interrogated.The vehicle was seized and sent for forensic tests to be carried out to collect DNA evidences. The vehicle is custom-made with a different seating system. The girl was allegedly raped on the last seat.Both the accused have given confession statements admitting to raping the girl. Megharikh said their cellphone tower movement matched with the route in which the van was being driven before the girl was raped.Police will be organising an identification parade soon. They will be made to stand among others of their same height, weight and complexion and the victim will be asked to identify them in the presence of a magistrate.The entire proceedings will be videographed and submitted to the court. She has already recorded her statement before the magistrate. Once the identification parade is completed, the girl need not come to the court for trial, the police said.Employees of HGS Company and other tech firms have come up with several complaints against TT vans and cabs fitted with tinted glasses and curtains. “We have complained about this several times, but no action has been taken,” the employees told the police. After listening to their woes, the police assured them that they would launch a drive to see that tinted glass/curtains are removed from cabs and vans.