London:
An Indian-origin bus driver has been jailed in Britain for eight years for raping a female passenger who had taken his night bus in west London.
Kalash Vijay, 42, was found guilty last month of two counts of rape.
Vijay was placed on the sex offenders register for life, and a Sexual Offences Prevention Order was made, banning him from driving any public service vehicle, official sources here said.
His female victim, in her 20s, boarded the night bus in Acton last February, Isleworth Crown Court was told. After dropping the woman off in the street, Vijay later returned in his car to get her and took her back to his house where he raped her.
The victim, who had been drinking, sat on the top deck and may have fallen asleep, police said.
CCTV footage showed that Vijay then went upstairs to the woman at 3.16 am to bring her downstairs. He then turned off the lights and showed the bus as "out of service", the jury heard.
Later, he stopped the bus and dropped the woman off on the street. He then parked at the nearby bus station and returned in his car to pick up his victim, who was still where she had been left.
After taking the woman back to his house and raping her, he took her back to the bus station the following morning, the court heard. The victim called police to say she had been raped.
"Vijay took advantage of a young woman in a vulnerable condition," Metropolitan Police Detective Constable Anna Hukowski said.
"She has shown incredible strength of character in reporting this incident and we have used our expertise to ensure that Vijay was identified and brought to justice," she added.