CAR constable braves flooded streets to save woman caught in Banjara Hills rains

In the middle of Thursday (August 7) evening’s relentless downpour, when Banjara Hills streets turned into waist-deep rivers, a Hyderabad City Armed Reserve (CAR) head constable waded through the swirling water to reach a stranded young woman calling out for help.

Head constable Sridhar Varma, a 2009 batch officer and escort in-charge in the area, was heading back after duty when he spotted 22-year-old Nainika standing alone at a bus stop on Road No. 3, shivering, drenched to the skin, and desperately trying to make a call on her phone. “She was frightened and kept crying. She told us she was an MBA student in Australia visiting her grandmother in Ramanthapur. Her aunt had come from the UK, and she had gone to meet her in Banjara Hills vicinity with her brother. However, he left her at the bus stop for some work,” Sridhar told The Hindu.

The water was up to his waist. “I am 6’2, so you can imagine. She was terrified of open manholes and said she had a phobia of water which could trigger seizures. We gave her our uniform jerkin, reassured her, and kept in touch with her family so they knew she was safe,” he said.

Her phone, now dead from water damage, could no longer connect her to home. Sridhar lent his own phone, not knowing her parents had already contacted the police control room in search of her. “We also informed the control room she was with us,” he said.

With cabs unavailable, Sridhar was directed by senior officers to drop her home in Vanasthalipuram. He picked her up at 8.10 p.m. and, after navigating rain-lashed streets, reached her home at 10.30 p.m. where her relieved mother and sister thanked him for bringing her back safely.