The Kenyan woman who had claimed that she was assaulted by a group of residents in Greater Noida on Wednesday had made up the story, an African student group said on Thursday. The Nigerian Students’ Welfare Association woman, who is in her 20s, had been depressed. The group also apologised for the episode right after the local police concluded their investigation and said the incident had been fabricated.
“Maria has told us that she was in trauma and has been pleading that the case be withdrawn,” Charles Kennedy, vice president of Association of the African Students in India, told The Times of India. The woman had said that she was attacked while she was on her way to a friend’s place. She had said that she was dragged out of her vehicle and assaulted by a group in Greater Noida.
“We interrogated the driver and he revealed he had dropped her safely at her drop location at Omicorn society in Greater Noida,” Dharmendra Singh, senior superintendent of police, Gautam Buddh Nagar, told Hindustan Times. “The GPS movement of car and the payment slip of the Ola cab driver show that the car did not stop during the journey. The lady has been lying.” The Kenyan high commission said they were satisfied with the investigation.
The police have decided against pressing charges in the case keeping in mind the ongoing tension between Africans and other residents in the area. On Sunday, four Nigerians were injured after being attacked by a group of residents during a protest against Africans living in residential colonies in Greater Noida. The protestors were demanding the the African residents be asked to vacate their rented houses immediately.
The protest was organised after a Class 12 student in Greater Noida’s NSG Black Cats Enclave died of a suspected drug overdose on Saturday and five Nigerian students living in the neighbourhood were booked for murder. The students were later released for lack of evidence.
After Sunday’s violence, two other African students were attacked inside a Delhi mall on Monday evening.
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