Basavanagudi

Ittamaduvu

Rajesh

Kannada

Bengaluru

During investigation, we learnt that Manu had earlier taken the same auto-rickshaw once to some place. The driver hangs around in the area looking for passengers. Investigating officer

Acchukattu

19-year-old had hailed auto to go toand meet a friend; auto driver said he wanted to stop at hishouse for a few seconds and change his clothesUsually, they are reported to the police or transport department for overcharging, refusal to go to the destination or being plain rude. But now, a complaint has been registered against an auto-driver for raping his passenger, a 19-year-old man working in a content production house. The driver, who has been identified as, is on the run. Locals say his nickname is Huli (for tiger) and is around 35 years old.The 19-year-old (let’s call him Manu as his identity cannot be revealed) is a newcomer to the city, having moved toonly around nine months backs. Around a month back, he took up the job in the media house.On May 23, Manu was to meet a friend in Basavanagudi. He flagged down an auto-rickshaw and asked the driver to take him to Bull Temple Road. Manu had wrapped up work around 7 pm and was to chat with the friend for a while.The auto-rickshaw driver asked Manu if he could stop at his house, which was on the way, for a few moments and change his clothes. Manu did not suspect anything and readily agreed.The driver took him to a residential area in Ittamaduvu, Banshankari, and went to the fourth floor – purportedly his house – while Manu waited in the auto. As per Manu’s complaint, within a few seconds, the driver called out to him from the fourth floor corridor.Thinking that the driver needed help with something, Manu went to the fourth floor house and found Rajesh in his innerwear. Still not suspecting anything, Manu asked Rajesh why he had summoned him. Rajesh, in turn, locked the door from inside. When the 19-year-old resisted, Rajesh warned him not to make a sound as his friends were waiting downstairs and would attack him. He first forced Manu to have oral sex and then gagged and sodomised him.He then asked Manu to wash himself – which could mean that Rajesh was a habitual offender as semen on the violated person’s body helps nail the criminal. Manu said that as he sat there sobbing, Rajesh went to the washroom too and changed his clothes.Rajesh then reminded Manu that his friends were waiting downstairs and he would be killed if he breathed a word about the incident to anyone.He then asked Manu to board the auto and dropped him near NR Colony. He once again told Manu that he had recorded the act and would upload it on social media if he informed the police.Once out of the auto, Manu called up his boss and told him an auto driver had ‘harassed’ him and misbehaved with him. The boss rushed to Manu’s rescue and both of them traced the auto driver to a hand-cart nearby, eating egg fried rice.When Manu’s boss confronted Rajesh, the latter feigned ignorance and said he had never seen Manu before in his life, leave alone having given him a ride. Manu then pulled his boss aside to tell him the ‘real’ story; sensing an opportunity, Rajesh threw his plate and escaped in his auto. Manu was taken to Channammanakere (CK)police station where a complaint was filed under Section 377 (having unnatural sex) of the Indian Penal Code after subjecting him to medical tests at KIMS, Kalasipalya (which confirmed sodomy).The investigating officer told Bangalore Mirror: “During investigation, we learnt that Manu had earlier taken the same auto-rickshaw once to some place. The driver hangs around in the area looking for passengers. We have managed to trace his address to Ittamadu and we have got his vehicle registration number. He is presently on the run and his house is locked. But we hope to catch him soon.”