Daijiworld News Network - Mangalore (MB)

Mangalore, Aug 15: In a shocking incident reported on Monday, a lonely woman travelling in an autorickshaw within the city, was looted of her gold jewellery in transit by an unidentified man, apparently with the collusion of the driver near Karnataka Polytechnic here.

Gulshan (48), a housewife from Kotekar-Madoor near Ullal, had arrived in the city on Monday and she engaged an autorickshaw at Hampankatta to go to a relative's house near New Chitra cinema. Instead of driving her straight to Car Street route, on the pretext of a traffic jam, he drove her to Balmatta and then to St Agnes College area where a stranger joined them.

The rickshaw then was taken towards Nantur and then to a secluded area near KPT, where she was gagged by the stranger and looted of gold jewellery worth 30 sovereign. Then he pushed her out of the vehicle, whereafter both and the driver sped away.

A case has been filed with the Kadri police station. It is significant that the Kadri police station is located about a hundred metres from the KPT junction. The incident has alarmed citizens and women may now on hesitate to travel alone in autorickshaws.

An auto driver expressed distress over the incident to daijiworld correspondent saying that henceforth all drivers might be looked down with suspicion. While agreeing that a small number of drivers could be overcharging the passengers, an incident of this kind was unheard of in recent years and was likely to spoil the image of auto drivers in general.

A policeman, speaking to daijiworld, wondered why women had to travel alone and show off their heavy jewellery and take risks. It was difficult for the police to prevent such cases, while the citizens too had their responsibility of taking suitable precautions. The identity of the rickshaw is not known. But there was a theory being put forward that the driver could have known the movements of the woman and he and the culprit might have jointly planned the operation in advance.