A 65-year-old Australian woman was robbed, assaulted and dumped at an isolated spot, before she was rescued by factory workers in Hosur on Thursday. The accused, a history-sheeter, who had taken up driving of a shared-auto at the Hosur bus stand, has been arrested and remanded.
The victim, Ruth Alexander, had arrived in India on a tourist visa to Kodaikanal before the COVID-19 pandemic and had been stranded during the lockdown.
C. Murali, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Hosur, told The Hindu that Ms. Alexander had been extending her visa through the Bengaluru City Commissioner during the lockdown. She had left Kodaikanal for Dindigal by bus, and had changed buses to reach Salem and from there, had come to Hosur.
“She had reached the Hosur bus stand at 1.30 a.m on Thursday and was hoping to reach Bengaluru and from there to Puttaparthi. She found a share auto with five passengers at the Hosur bus stand, and assumed it would be safe. The auto driver asked the other passengers to get off, and had assured Ms. Alexander that he would drop her off safely at the border that was only five minutes away,” Mr. Murali said. The auto driver, Shankar alias Mullu Shankar, was a history-sheeter, who was already jailed under the Goodas Act last year, he said. He was let out during the COVID pandemic.
Shankar had driven the Australian woman around for over 10 minutes to a desolate spot in Muneeswar Nagar, where he assaulted her and robbed her of her bag and belongings that included cash, ₹3,000.
Ms. Alexander had sustained facial injuries to her lips and jaw and was incapacitated for over 45 minutes in the dark. She was spotted by some factory workers, who were returning home from their factory shifts. She was rescued and admitted to Hosur Government Hospital, where she was recovering on Friday.
“We took down her statement, and soon we traced the accused, who already had criminal antecedents. We were not aware he was driving an auto after he was released. The victim was trying to go to Puttaparthi but the only cash she had was robbed. Now, we will personally escort her and drop her in Puttaparthi, after what she had gone through here,” said DSP Murali.
