Goa locals ignored Russian girls' plea for help

Two Russian girls, who escaped an alleged rape attempt by a taxi driver at Anjuna beach in Goa, knocked the doors of locals only to be turned away, while being chased by the accused.

In a complaint filed with the Anjuna police on Friday Olga Tyurina, 29 and Irina Babayan, 25, said the taxi driver tried to rape them at an isolated spot in the beach, but they managed to escape and ran away towards a cluster of houses.

"When the driver threatened us, we immediately got down from the car and started running. He removed a baseball bat from the car and hit my right leg, but we still managed to run," Olga said in her statement to the police.

"We ran towards some houses and knocked on the door of one of them and requested the occupants to call the police. Nobody came out from the house and we heard someone from inside asking us to go away. We then started running through the field to the other houses for help", they said.

The complaint states that driver Pramod Shirodkar was following them and he was joined by two motorcycle borne people, possibly his accomplices.

"We lied down under a tree and therefore the driver could not find us. They went on searching as we waited for the sunrise," the complaint said.

The girls, who were returning from a discotheque on Friday at Saligao village, had hired a taxi to go back to their hotel at Baga. According to the police complaint, the taxi driver drove through different streets and after nearly 40 minutes, when the girls realised that he was misleading them, they questioned him. The driver then asked for Rs 1,000 or sex instead of Rs 300, which was decided as the fare.

The girls then warned the driver that they will call the police, but he said he was not afraid of the police and his friend was in the 'mafia', according to the complaint.

"We will take the girls' statement in Russian language and will forward it to the Consulate for further action," said Vikram Varma, the lawyer representing Consul General of Russian Federation in Mumbai.

The police today arrested the driver, while the other two accomplices are still at large. The Anjuna police have charged the accused under section 509, 323 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code for eve teasing, causing hurt and threat.