UP woman molested in ambulance by driver, helper; husband's life support removed

The woman contacted the local police, who arranged for another ambulance to transport her husband to Gorakhpur Medical College, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Siddharthnagar: A woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by the driver and helper of a private ambulance she had hired to transport her terminally-ill husband from the hospital, police said on Wednesday. According to the police sources, the perpetrators also threw out the victim from the ambulance after failing to 'rape' her.

They also threw out her brother and her husband on the roadside before fleeing. The woman's husband was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Lucknow before the fatal ambulance ride. The ailing husband was rushed to the hospital after the victim managed to inform the cops but died on the way.

Although the incident happened a few days back, it came to light on Wednesday, when the woman lodged a complaint with the Lucknow police in this regard.

Police said that the woman, a resident of Bansi in the district, had got her husband admitted to a private hospital in Lucknow last month. She, however, requested the doctors to discharge him after she ran out of money.

One of the hospital employees gave her the cell number of a private ambulance operator and in the evening of Saturday, she, her husband and her younger brother left for their village in the vehicle.

Sources said that the ambulance driver, whose friend was also there, a little later, asked the woman to sit on the front seat telling her that the police often checked the vehicles. The duo allegedly inappropriately touched the woman and tried to rape her.

Around midnight, the perpetrators threw the woman, after they failed to 'rape' her and her brother on the road near Basti town. They also removed the oxygen support of her husband before throwing him out and fled from there.

The woman managed to call the cops who rushed her sick husband to the district hospital from where he was referred to a higher centre in Gorakhpur but he died while he was being transported.

The woman lodged an FIR with the Lucknow police on Wednesday. Police said that they were investigating the matter and that a search had been launched to nab the culprits.

"We have lodged a case regarding the incident on the basis of the complaint registered by the woman. Our teams are trying to arrest the accused," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) of Lucknow Jitendra Kumar Dubey said.