Kenyan who alleged assault in Noida withdraws case; African students group says she lied out of depression

A Kenyan woman, who alleged on Wednesday that locals in Greater Noida had assaulted her, has reportedly withdrawn her complaint. Noida police said her story was constantly changing and there were several loopholes in her version, Zee News  reported. [caption id=“attachment_3360228” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] On Thursday, Noida SSP Dharmendra Singh claimed that Kenyan national Maria Burendi had been lying about the attack. He said she changed her statement, and that no locals were involved in the alleged assault. The SSP said Burendi fought with her own friends, according to the Zee News report. Hindustan Times quoted an African students group as saying that Burendi made up the story because she was depressed. The group also apologised for the “cooked-up” story. “We investigated the matter later in the evening, and found that the woman was under distress due to personal issues. She had cooked up this story and we would like to offer our apologies to the police and people,” said Charles Kennedy, vice-president, Nigerian Citizen’s Welfare Association. Burendi earlier claimed that while she was on her way to meet a friend in Greater Noida’s Omicron Society, a group of men pulled her out of her Ola taxi and assaulted her. However, the taxi driver reportedly told the police that no such incident occurred. “We interrogated the driver and he revealed he dropped her safely at her drop location at Omicorn society in Greater Noida. GPS movement of car and payment slip of the Ola driver also show that car’s movement was not stopped during the journey. The lady has been lying,” said Dharmendra Singh, senior superintendent of police, Gautam Budh Nagar, told Hindustan Times. Meanwhile, Nigeria has summoned the Indian envoy in Abuja to express displeasure over the attacks on Nigerian students in India, and voiced concerns that the incident was not the first of its kind, the country’s Foreign Office said. Sola Enikanolaiye, permanent secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nigeria, summoned Indian High Commissioner Nagabushana Reddy, on Wednesday in Abuja. “I have just finished a meeting with the Indian High Commissioner where I expressed Nigeria’s displeasure with the attacks on Nigerians,” Enikanolaiye tweeted. He said the Indian High Commissioner “informed of concrete steps taken” by the Indian government to address the incident and also promised justice. With inputs from IANS