BENGALURU: A 32-year-old entrepreneur, who booked a ride on a Uber cab from airport to his residence, was allegedly verbally abused, threatened and robbed of valuables and Rs 4,000 cash by the cab driver.
To add to his misery, when he called Uber helpline, authorities of the cab service company refused to give him the cab registration number, though he pleaded with them that all he wanted was his wallet, which contained his PAN card, driver’s licence and debit and credit cards. The victim could not track down the cab as it had a faulty number plate.
The incident occurred around 1.30 pm on Sunday when Mr Shekhar Sahu booked the cab from the airport to his house in HAL III Stage. “I received the invoice of the driver’s name and booking confirmation on my mobile,” he said.
The harassment began even before Mr Sahu got into the cab. “I called the driver, Ravi Kumar, and asked him to pick me up from a particular spot, but he flatly refused. He asked me to walk up to the spot where he had parked. I found him after walking for 15 minutes, covering over half a kilometre,” Mr Sahu said.
When he reached his house, Mr Sahu got down from the cab and was trying to get a small bag that had his wallet and other valuables on the backseat, but the driver sped away with the door still open.
“I got out of the cab and he didn’t even bother to end my trip. He simply accelerated and sped off when he realised that my wallet was still inside. I tried to chase the car, but I couldn’t catch up. I called him on his mobile immediately, but he did not answer the call. After several attempts, I alerted the police control room,” he said.
He later filed a theft complaint at the Jeevan Bima Nagar police station. As he continued to make frantic calls, the driver finally picked up the call around 5 pm and abused Mr Sahu. “I asked him to return my documents, but he started verbally abusing me in Kannada. When I threatened to go to the police, he became defiant, and said that he did not care. Then, he launched into racial abuse, speaking in Hindi this time,” Mr Sahu said.
When Deccan Chronicle reported the issue, DCP (East) Sathish Kumar said that he would initiate an inquiry immediately.
Company’s response to Shekhar Sahu’s complaint
“Hey Shekhar,
Thanks for writing in! Unfortunately, I would not be able to share further details than what was already shared with you at the time of your trip. We have a very strong privacy policy for both our Riders and Drivers. As mentioned in my previous email to you, we are trying to connect with the driver as well and we will reach out to you once we have retrieved your wallet. Thanks.”
