Delhi Police serves summons on Uber cabs’ proprietors
Uber cab driver Shiv Kumar Yadav, who is accused of raping a 27-year-old woman professional, was arrested by Mathura police from Dhauli Piau village in the district barely half-an-hour after Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi declared a reward of `1 lakh for providing information that may lead to the arrest of the accused. Yadav, 32, was later handed over to the Delhi Police. The police will produce him before a judicial magistrate on Monday and will seek his remand.
The accused was brought to the national Capital and whisked away to an undisclosed destination for interrogation. It has been revealed that the accused driver approached the local MlA after the Delhi Police turned the heat on him. However, the MlA informed Mathura police. By the time the local police team reached Yadav’s village, the counsel for the accused was ready with the papers to oppose the arrest. However, the Delhi
Police managed to get his custody after certain legalities were followed.The Delhi Police will re-enact the scene of crime by taking the accused to the route that he took after the victim boarded the cab.
Police have recovered the clothes that he wore at time of committing the rape. It will be sent for the forensic examination, the official added.
In a related development, the Delhi Police on Sunday served a summons on the proprietors of Uber cab service under Section 161 of the CrPC. “We have issued them a notice to join the investigation. There are Transport Department norms for such cab service in Delhi and we will check whether they followed the norms or not,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Madhur Verma.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that the management of Uber has no details about the antecedents of the driver. A police team spent almost five hours in its office in Signature Tower in Gurgaon but to no avail as the executives of the international cab-booking service has no clue. They even did not have a photograph of the driver. Police said the driver did not have a driving licence issued by the Delhi Transport Authority and the only link the service provider had with him was a Smartphone App which he exited after the incident. The company also could not immediately provide the call log to police as details were said to be stored at the company’s HQ in New York.
“There are reasons to doubt that Uber management failed to conform to the criteria and committed glaring anomalies in hiring the driver. The manner in which the crime was committed indicates that the accused has a criminal record,” said a police official. The Uber management has been asked to appear before the Investigating Officer.
Twelve police teams were pressed into service to nab the rapist cabbie who is a resident of a village in Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. A police team from the North district questioned the family members of the accused to locate his whereabouts. While four teams carried out raids in Mathura, three teams searched the possible hideouts of the accused in Delhi, and five teams raided many places in Haryana.
“The Swift Dezire car in which the crime took place was recovered from a place in Mathura late on Saturday night. The car will be examined by the forensic experts here. Delhi Police teams got full support from local police at Mathura,” said Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat.
The shocking rape incident, which took place a few days ahead of the second anniversary of the December 16 Nirbhaya gangrape, brought back memories of the horrific crime as shock and anger erupted both online and offline. The incident also shifted spotlight on the different private cab services available in Delhi and how secure they are as a number of working women and even college-goers considered them as a safe mode of transport in odd hours.
Meanwhile, the US-based cab service provider, which has come under attack for allegedly flouting norms, has issued a statement saying they are providing all help to police in the investigation. “Our thoughts are with the victim of this terrible crime and we are working with the police. We will assist them in any way we can. It is also our policy to immediately suspend a driver’s account following allegations of a serious incident, which we have done. Safety is Uber’s highest priority and in India, we work with licensed driver-partners to provide a safe transportation option, with layers of safeguards such as driver and vehicle information, and ETA-sharing to ensure there is accountability and traceability of all trips that occur on the Uber platform,” said Evelyn Tay, an Uber Spokeswoman.