Bengaluru DCP trashes sexual harassment case against Rapido bike-rider; cites false charges

The Hennur police officials probing the incident have said that the complaint was based on false charges. The complaint was lodged on Monday against the accused identified as Manjunath Tippeswamy and discarded on Wednesday by the officials.

Bengaluru: A 21-year-old dubbing artist from Bengaluru lodged a complaint against a bike rider associated with the taxi aggregator platform Rapido, accusing him of sexually harassing her. The Hennur police officials probing the incident have however said that the complaint was based on false charges. The complaint was lodged on Monday against the accused identified as Manjunath Tippeswamy, and discarded on Wednesday by the officials.

The complainant claimed that she had booked a bike on Rapido to reach home after work from Jakkur to Babusaabpalya at about 10:30 pm on Monday. She further stated in her complaint that after she got on the bike, the accused did not take the OTP number saying that his phone was off, and asked her to guide him through the way. The victim agreed and was navigating the way. The accused then allegedly started touching her inappropriate manner.

The police said that the complaint was registered under IPC Section 354 (A) for sexual harassment. However, DCP Bhimashankar Guled said that the preliminary investigation revealed that the young lady had booked the bike but canceled it later, and the app has no information about the accused reaching the place. The case was therefore discarded as a false case, the DCP said.