Delhi Police sources said the car’s owner, Amit, used to employ another driver, who was registered with Uber, till a week ago.
Delhi Police has arrested a 23-year-old Uber driver under charges of abduction and molestation, after a 28-year-old woman passenger, who took his cab from Rohini to Faridabad, lodged a complaint at Mahendra Park police station on March 9.
The alleged incident took place on the evening of March 9, when the woman, who works with a multinational company, booked an Uber to head home. Police said the woman usually drives herself, but had taken a cab that day.
According to her complaint, the woman initially noticed that the cab had a white number plate and tinted glasses. Once she got inside, she became suspicious as the driver did not match the photograph in the mobile app. She then noticed that he had taken a secluded route, and kept staring at her.
She alleged that the driver took a different route than the one she usually takes, and when she asked him to stop the vehicle at a traffic signal, he shut the doors using the central lock and threatened her. She also told police that when she tried to talk to a friend over the phone, the driver increased the volume of music in the car. Eventually, when the car slowed down at one point, she managed to unlock the door and jump out before making a PCR call. “We received a PCR call around 8.30 pm. A case under IPC sections 365, 354-A, 342 and 506 was registered,” said DCP (northwest) Aslam Khan.
Police sources said the car’s owner, Amit, used to employ another driver, who was registered with Uber, till a week ago. Once he quit, Amit employed the accused, Sanjeev alias Sanju, but didn’t inform the company as he did not want to pay the charges associated with changing the driver.
Khan said police procured details of the vehicle from Uber, and Sanju was arrested from Sonipat on March 9 night. “The accused was inside the vehicle in an inebriated condition. We will also book the car’s owner and issue a notice to Uber,” said Khan.
An Uber spokesperson said in a statement: “We regret the unfortunate experience the rider had during her trip. Uber takes the safety of riders and drivers using the Uber App extremely seriously. The drivers in the present incident have violated the terms of the agreement that Uber signs with its driver-partners… We immediately removed the driver partner’s access to the Uber App and will take strict action against him for letting an unregistered driver without a licence access his account and take trips via Uber App. We will also take strict action against the unauthorised driver. We stand ready to support law enforcement authorities with any information needed for their investigation.”