Delhi duo foils rape bid, 2 accused held

Gurgaon: A cab driver and his friend were arrested on Saturday after they robbed and attempted to rape two women who had hired the cab to return home in Delhi. Despite being threatened at gunpoint, the bravehearts managed to foil the rape attempt, putting up a fight and escaping when public gathered after the car hit a divider.
The survivors work as security guards at an event management company in Sector 44.One of them is a 29-year-old married woman with two kids, while the other is 27 and single. They both live in Delhi’s Dakshinpuri.
The accused are cab driver Vikas (25), resident of Firoz Gandhi Colony and his friend Bahadurgarh native Pawan (27) who was living in old Gurgaon.
Around 5.15am on Saturday, the survivors arrived at Iffco Chowk after their night shift, and hailed a private cab — a white Mahindra Xylo (HR 55 T 8469) — to return home. They knew the cab driver would be picking up more passengers — a common practice on the Delhi-Gurgaon route, and were not flustered when they saw another man in the navigator’s seat. They sat in the middle row.
Vikas drove slowly towards MG Road from Iffco Chowk, ostensibly to approach Delhi via Ghitorni. When the girls asked him to drive faster, Vikas said he was looking for more passengers. As it turned out, he was just looking for an opportunity to prey upon the women.
As soon as the car reached the Sikanderpur Rapid Metro station, they found a spot to their liking. Co-passenger Pawan jumped to the middle row in the moving car, saying he was searching for something in the rear. When he placed his hand on the shoulder of the 29-year-old, the other woman protested. Pawan slapped her, flashed a gun and asked them to hand over their belongings.
“We were carrying our salaries of Rs 14,000 each, which they grabbed along with our cell phones and gold jewellery,” the older survivor told TOI. Afterwards, Pawan tried to rape her. He grabbed her inappropriately and when her co-passenger tried to push him away, pulled her hair, and again tried to molest the older woman. Meanwhile, Vikas continued driving around DLF Phase 2.
“They could do this as they had a gun. Else, we would have taught them a lesson,” said a survivor. But as the cab crossed Cyber City and headed towards NH-8 from Shankar Chowk, the younger girl displayed presence of mind, when she lunged at the steering wheel. The car lost balance and hit a divider at around 5.40am.
A crowd quickly gathered, and the girls told them what had happened. Vikas escaped with the weapon and booty, but the crowd nabbed Pawan and handed him over to police. The cops impounded the car and took the girls for medical check up, which confirmed physical assault. An FIR was registered at DLF Phase 2 police station, under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 34 (common intention), 376 (rape), 379A (snatching), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 511 (offences punishable with life imprisonment), and 25-54-59 of the Arms Act.
Later in the day, Vikas surrendered to cops. The duo was produced in court on Sunday and sent to one-day remand.