An angry cabbie practically kidnapped a woman and her 15-yearold daughter and drove them around the narrow, deserted bylanes of Mahim for 40 minutes on Friday night, ignoring their frantic pleas to stop and let them out. He did so as the woman had telephoned the police when he initially refused to take them to their destination.
Pooja Sakpal (35) and her daughter were finally rescued after she telephoned 103, a help line for women and children in distress. The traffic police intercepted the cab near St Michael’s church, Mahim, and arrested driver Adarsh Kumar Trivedi (35). They said they would also ask the Regional Transport Office (RTO) to cancel his licence.
Trivedi has been booked under Section 110 of the Bombay Police Act, while deals with vulgarity and indecent behaviour, and Section 10A/10B of the Motor Vehicles Act, for refusing to take his passengers to their destination.
Around 9pm on Friday, Sakpal and her daughter got in a cab outside Phoenix Mills, Lower Parel. “He acting up right from the start by refusing to take us to our destination”, said Sakpal, a resident of Veer Savarkar Marg. “After we reached Veer Savarkar Marg, he suddenly took a left turn towards Mori Road, Mahim. I immediately told my daughter to take down the cab’s registration number while I spoke to the police. I was not able to gauge our exact location, but kept the police informed of the landmarks we passed.”
Sakpal added, “It was his way of taking revenge on us because I had telephoned 100 and told the police that he was refusing to ply. When we refused to get down, he became furious. He kept on speeding while abusing us and using sexually explicit language. My daughter was terrified. When it seemed like things were getting out of hand I told him to stop. However, he just refused to stop driving, and took us into lanes that were narrow, deserted and poorly lit. My daughter and I screamed out of the window for help when it we realised we were being abducted. Many thoughts flashed through my mind – should I jump, should I push my daughter out?
Sakpal said the police came to her rescue just when she had lost all hope. “Thank God I called 103. Though the call got disconnected midway, I pretended I was still on the call. Later, the police calle dme seven times to find out my location, which was amazing. After a 40-minute chase, the driver’s luck ran out out and his cab was blocked by the traffic police at the junction of St Michael’s church.”
