The police have arrested the attendant of an ambulance in connection with the attempted rape and robbery of a woman in a moving ambulance recently.

The woman was allegedly molested inside the ambulance while accompanying her husband to the hospital. After assaulting her, the ambulance workers reportedly threw her and her husband out of the vehicle after removing his oxygen support.

The woman’s husband subsequently died during treatment at Gorakhpur Medical College.

The police have also recovered the ambulance involved in the incident. The driver has been identified, and police are conducting raids at various places to locate him.

Lucknow ACP Anidyra Vikram Singh said that on Thursday, with the help of surveillance, the police arrested the ambulance helper, Rishabh Singh, a resident of Kunharganj in Ayodhya. The ambulance was also recovered at the same location.

He said that during interrogation, the accused identified the ambulance driver as Suraj Tiwari, a resident of Purwa in Unnao. The police raided several places in search of the driver but have not located him. The accused also said that the journey of 200-kilometre journey was covered for Rs 9,000.

The accused claimed that at the time of the incident, driver Suraj Tiwari was drunk and misbehaved with the woman in his drunken state. In the Cantonment area of Basti, Tiwari and the accused snatched Rs 10,000, a mangalsutra, anklets and other documents from the woman, before fleeing the scene with everyone in the ambulance.

The incident occurred on August 30 in Siddharthnagar district.

According to reports, the woman had taken her husband, Harish, to Basti Medical College after he had been unwell for several days. Due to his deteriorating condition, the doctors at the hospital referred him to a different facility. Unable to afford the fees at the private hospital, the woman decided to return home in Siddharthnagar for treatment.

During the journey, the ambulance driver forced the woman to sit in the front with him and, along with his aide, sexually harassed her. When she attempted to protest and shout, they cut off her husband’s oxygen supply and threw both of them out from the ambulance.

The ambulance driver also stole her jewellery, the woman alleged. Her husband was severely injured, and his health deteriorated after the oxygen supply was cut off.

After the victim recounted her ordeal to her brother over phone, he informed the police.