Kenyan Woman Who Claimed Hate Attack In Noida Lied, Says Police

Noida, March 30 : A Kenyan woman who claimed she was assaulted by a group of men in Greater Noida may have lied about the attack, police said on Thursday.

Police officers in Greater Noida IANS spoke to said "no such incident" occurred on Wednesday morning and the victim may have made a "wrong statement" because she appeared depressed.

Maria Burendi, a student, alleged she was pulled out of an Ola cab around 4.30 a.m. near Alstonia Apartments in Knowledge Park of the satellite town near Delhi when she was returning home after meeting a friend.

The woman, in her 20s, alleged that she was slapped and kicked in her abdomen by 10-12 men at Greater Noida in Gautam Budh Nagar district. 

Superintendent of Police Sujata Singh told IANS that it was a "false case".

She said since the matter pertained to a foreigner and involved the foreign offices of India and Kenya, "we are waiting for a government order to expunge the FIR".

Sujata Singh said they were also informed by the President of the Association of African Students in India that the woman may be "lying because of depression".

Circle Officer Abhinandan Singh said the woman was depressed due to a family problem and had a fight with one of her friends on the night she reported the incident.

"She fabricated the story and tried to relate the matter with the recent attacks on Nigerians," Abhinandan Singh told IANS, referring to a series of shocking attacks on Nigerian students in Greater Noida on Monday. 

"The driver of the Ola cab, in which the Kenyan woman travelled on Wednesday morning, confirmed it was a fabricated story and refuted her allegations." 

The Circle Officer said the woman has been constantly giving contradictory statements since "we questioned the cab driver to know the reality".

"The woman had alleged that the driver fled from the spot without taking the payment when she was attacked. But he gave us a Rs 120 invoice paid by the woman.

"She reported that the incident occurred around 4.30 a.m. while the driver's statement and the (Global Positioning System) GPS location of the cab revealed that she travelled in the cab between 5.50 a.m. and 6 a.m." 

Abhinandan Singh said a policeman -- in charge of a checkpost -- found the woman on the street on Monday although the situation was tense in the area after the assault on Nigerians. 

"The officer dropped the woman at her apartment and gave her his number for any emergency. Why didn't the woman call the officer when she was attacked?" he asked. 

Police registered a case of rioting, unlawful assembly, criminal intimidation and voluntarily causing hurt of the Indian Penal Code after the incident was reported by the Kenyan woman.

She also reported injuries and was then taken to Kailash Hospital in Greater Noida, which houses many colleges and universities where thousands of foreign nationals study. She was discharged after a first aid.

(Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)