Autorickshaw driver helps avert 'gang-rape' of teenage girl

A good Samaritan autorickshaw driver helped the police nab two persons, who had abducted a 19-year-old girl after assaulting her cousin near Yeshwantpur railway station on Thursday night.

Asgar Pasha ensured the police take timely action to rescue the girl before she was sexually assaulted by a gang of three.

The police arrested Fayaz and Zubair Khan, both part-time autorickshaw drivers, and have booked them for kidnapping, assault and molestation. They have launched a manhunt to nab the third suspect Salman.

The police said that Zubair Khan and Salman are history-sheeters in Yeshwantpur police station.
The girl and her relative, residents of Chitradurga, had come to city to visit their relative at Huskur near Parappana Agrahara on Thursday.

According to police, the girl, along with her relative, had come to the city from Chitradurga to visit a relative at Huskur near Parappana Agrahara on Thursday.

As they could not trace the relative’s address, they planned to return to Chitradurga the same day. The duo learnt that train to Chitradurga was at 12 midnight. As they didn’t have money to buy tickets, they stepped out of the railway station at around 11.30 pm. Three men in an autorickshaw accosted them near a bridge. The trio, who were under the influence of alcohol, learnt their predicament. Fayaz assaulted the man and bundled the girl into autorickshaw and sped away, the police said.

Asgar Pasha, who was waiting for passengers at an auto stand near railway station, learnt about the incident from the girl’s relative. Pasha immediately rushed him to the Yeshwantpur police station. The night patrolling team took Pasha and the man along with them, and combed the neighbourhoods of Yeshwantpur railway station near the market area. Pasha took a guess that the culprits could be a few fellow auto drivers whom he had vague details about. He then led the police into a dingy travels godown, from where Fayaz was nabbed. The police then found the petrified victim sitting in a corner, and rescued her. Meanwhile, Fayaz’s two associates Khan and Salman escaped. Khan was arrested in the wee hours from Mathikere, the police said.

Pasha rewarded

City Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumar rewarded Rs 5,000 to Pasha, and also announced a cash prize of Rs 25,000 for the cops for their swift action. “The members of public should help the police nab the criminals. Asghar Pasha’s cooperation helped the police to avert heinous crime,” he said.