Family forgets 4-year-old in cab in Bengaluru, Hoysala team traces vehicle & rescues child

BENGALURU: A quick reaction from the patrolling police and technology helped a family get back their four-year-old boy they left in the back seat of an eight-seater cab in the city.

The incident took place on the night of Feb 14, when a five-member family booked the cab online from Iskcon in Rajajinagar to their home in Ponnappa Layout, Hennur. Among the five were a mother in her 30s and her four-year-old son. After boarding the vehicle, the boy, who was asleep, was moved to the last seat, which was empty.


After reaching the destination around 8.10pm, the family got down in a hurry, and the cabbie, Kiran Kumar, drove away after collecting his fare.

Meanwhile, the boy's mother asked her cousin where the child was. Astonished, the cousin replied she thought he was with her. The family then realised they left the child behind in the cab.

The family tried to contact the driver through the call centre, but in vain. Then, they called the police control room (112), and a patrolling Hoysala vehicle reached the spot by 8.30pm.

ASI Manjappa Koppal and head constable Satish Kumar first collected the CCTV footage from a neighbouring house. "From the footage, they noted the registration number of the cab. Then, using the mobile crime and criminal tracking network system app, they found a mobile number connected with the cab. The mobile number belonged to the cab owner. The owner quickly shared the driver Kiran Kumar's mobile number," Manjappa Koppal said.

"We called Kiran. He was around 9km away from Ponnappa Layout and had a three-member family in his cab. First, he said there's no child in the car and his passengers too told him they don't see a boy in the car. We asked him to stop the vehicle and take a closer look in the back seat. We then immediately heard him say, ‘Yes, sir, a child is asleep here'. I told him not to wake the child and to drive back to the location that I shared with him. Kumar feared that he could be arrested for kidnapping the child. We assured him that we knew it was an accidental case and that he had no role in it. In 15 minutes, Kumar arrived at the spot, and the mother was elated on seeing her child," Koppal said.