Thiruvananthapuram: Mayor Arya Rajendran on Monday said that she had complained against the KSRTC driver, Yadhu, whose allegedly reckless driving had put her car in danger, only because of the “offensive, sexually-loaded” gesture made by the driver. “He turned to the two women inside the car (Arya and her sister-in-law) and made an offensive, sexually loaded action. This made us uncomfortable, and we wanted to know why he did that,” the Mayor told reporters.

The Mayor denied reports that her husband, Baluserry MLA Sachin Dev, had entered the Super Fast bus and asked the passengers to exit. “The passengers had to come out of the bus only after the police came,” the Mayor said. She also said that the she and her family did not forcibly chase down the KSRTC bus.

“We talked to him only at the red signal near the Saphalyam Complex (a shopping complex right across the road from the VJT Hall and diagonally across University College),” the Mayor said. Though she made it seem like she and her relatives got out of the car at the ‘red signal’ when all the vehicles stopped, the Mayor, after repeated probing, conceded that the car in which she was travelling cross-parked in front of the Super Fast. Contrary to the Mayor’s assertions, this suggested an attempt to forcibly stop the KSRTC bus.

The Mayor also alleged that the driver, Yadhu, was an habitual offender. She said action had been taken against him twice, in 2022 and 2017. In 2002, he said he was driving a private vehicle when it hit a KSRTC bus, which in turn swerved and rammed into a car. The women in the car had given a complaint. In 2017, she said the Peroorkada Police Station had booked the driver for dangerous driving.

Further, the Mayor said that the driver had used some “narcotic substances” while talking to her on Sunday night and hurled its empty cover right in front of them. The Mayor also hinted that the media was attempting to turn the incident against her. “In all other earlier incidents where drivers were involved, the media had stood by the affected parties. But not this time,” she said. She surmised that it could be because she was the Mayor.

She said that she was travelling in a private vehicle and asked the driver questions only as a common person. Nonetheless, the Mayor’s version also confirms that her car was on the left of the KSRTC bus as both were moving up a gradient along the Plamood-PMG one-way. The moot question is: Was the KSRTC bus overtaking the Mayor car from the right or was it the other way around?