Bengaluru: Ola driver robs and murders model

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, August 24, 2019: A model-cum-event manager woman was brutally murdered by an Ola cab driver in a bid to rob her while she was on her way to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on July 31.

The Bagalur police have identified the victim as Pooja Singh, a native of Kolkata. She had come to the city on July 30 for an event and was returning home when the incident happened.

Passers-by informed the police about a woman’s body that was lying close to the KIA compound on July 31. She was found wearing a Titan watch, a pair of Jealous-21 jeans and a pair of branded sandals, which were the only clues found by the police. There was no phone, no handbag or anything else that the police could retrieve from the crime scene. The victim had blunt injuries to her head as well as multiple stab wounds.

After an investigation by the police, they were able to identify the victim and determined her phone number and emaiI IDs. The police then learnt that Pooja had booked an Ola cab to reach KIA on July 31 after her assignment. The driver has been identified as HM Nagesh (22), a resident of Hegganahalli Cross in the city.

According to the police, Nagesh demanded money from Pooja and when she refused, he brutally assaulted her with a jack rod that he had in the car and killed her. He then dumped her body on land behind the KIA compound near Kadayarappanahalli village, Jala Hobli, 100 metres from a road where passing vehicles wouldn’t see her.

A passer-by stumbled on the woman’s body around 6.30 a.m. and informed the police. The police found the woman lying in a pool of blood with multiple stab injuries to her chest, abdomen, throat and cuts on the palm and hands along with blunt injuries to her head.

Bagalur police formed a special team and initiated a probe from the clues available. The police started probing the unique identity number on the Titan wristwatch to identify her. From the woman’s facial features, the police figured out that she may either be from West Bengal or from North India.

Special teams were sent to New Delhi and Kolkata where the police inquired about missing cases and stumbled on a match at New Town Police station where the photograph of the missing person matched that of the deceased. It was then that the police learnt that she was married and met her husband Soudeep De. He then came to Bengaluru to identify the body.

Further investigations revealed that Pooja Singh had come to the city related to her work as an event manager. She had booked an Ola cab through her email ID and the police suspected that the cab driver may be involved in her murder. Nagesh was then picked up by police and under intense grilling, he confessed to the crime, saying that he killed her for her money. The police have recovered the victim’s belongings from Nagesh, who was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.