The taxi driver, Kurla resident Sayyed Qayyum Sayyed Hafeez (42), was booked for outraging a woman’s modesty. He will be produced in court on Thursday.

According to the police, the victim, alighted from a bus at Vile Parle (East) and hailed a taxi to go to Vile Parle (West), where she was to meet her family friend Alexandra D’Souza, also a Russian national, and the latter’s husband Warren.

“She took a cab around 10.30 am, sat in the front seat and asked him to go to her family friend’s place. Hafeez, however, drove for three hours around the domestic and international airport terminals,” said Senior Police Inspector Deepak Katkade of Juhu police station.

In the meantime, the victim—who did not have a local SIM card—requested Hafeez to call Warren, who did not answer the phone as he was asleep. “When Warren awoke, he saw the missed calls and called back around 1.30 pm. Hafeez handed the phone to the victim, who explained that she was unable to locate the address. Warren then spoke to the driver and gave him the address,” said Katkade.

Hafeez stopped the taxi and asked the woman to shift to the rear seat. “Five minutes later, Hafeez himself went to the rear seat, told the victim that he’d been working without rest since late last night and forcibly kissed the victim,” said Katkade. “The victim arrived at her destination where Warren was waiting for her and narrated the entire incident to him, by which time the driver had left,” said Suresh Shah, Warren’s friend and resident of the same building.

Shah noted the driver’s cellphone number from Warren’s phone, called Hafeez and threatened to give the number to the police. “He soon came back, gave his wrong name and address and also tried to run away, but we brought him to the Juhu police station,” Shah added.