A 50-year-old Uber cab driver was shot dead by two minors, who hired the cab, in South West Delhi’s Munka area on Wednesday night, police said on Saturday. Both the minors were apprehended.
The deceased was identified as Kuldeep Thakur, who hailed from Mandi district in Himachal and was living in Andrews Ganj area in South Delhi. Incidentally, this was the first booking Kuldeep, who had just joined Uber, accepted on the Uber app and it proved to be his last.
The incident took place on Wednesday night. The two juveniles had booked the cab from South West Delhi’s Najafgarh area for village Hiran Kudna of West Delhi.
While travelling, they had a heated argument with the driver, following which one of the juveniles allegedly whipped out a pistol and shot him twice from a close range. The driver died on the spot, said Dependra Pathak, Joint Commissioner South Western Range.
“The duo dumped the body in a paddy field near Coca Cola Company in Mundka after which they drove the car back to Najafgarh where they abandoned it,” added Pathak.
Police came to know about the crime after villagers informed them about an
abandoned car in Najafgarh with a pool of blood in it, on Thursday morning.
“A team reached the spot and recovered a number plate from the car that helped us track the address of the owner,” said Pathak. The police zeroed in on and tracked the two juveniles down with the help of the online booking software, he added.
“On the juveniles’ instance, Kuldeep’s body was recovered from Mundka,” said Pathak. The post-mortem has further clarified that Kuldeep died of bullet injuries.
During the questioning, the juveniles said that altercation broke out after they started making fun of the native place of the driver and enraged, Kuldeep retaliated with some jokes on them, who then shot him.
Kuldeep was driving a Swift Desire car which he had bought a month back and had put in the business for App-based cabs. He was earlier enrolled with Ola Cabs as a driver till March 11 of this year and then shifted to Uber after he had bought his own car.
Sources said police did not find any previous criminal record of the minors. “We are trying to find out how and from where the minors got the firearm used in the crime,” they added.
Meanwhile, Uber issued a statement describing the incident as “unfortunate”.
“It is an unfortunate incident of an Uber driver being shot dead by passengers in Delhi. Our thoughts are with the family of our driver-partner, the victim of this mindless violence. We have pro-actively shared details with the police to assist them with their investigation,” General Manager (Uber-North) Gagan Bhatia said.
Meanwhile, Kuldeep’s family alleged irresponsibility on part of Uber. Naveen, nephew of Kuldeep, said, “The cab has GPS system that tracks the path then why did not the company intervene while the cab was driven on different route.”
A case has been registered in Mundka police station and further investigation is underway, said a police officer.