by Saurabh Yadav
NEW DELHI
An Uber driver accused of raping a 25-year-old woman in the Indian capital of New Delhi has been arrested on Sunday, said a police official.
Shiv Kumar Yadav, 32, was arrested by Delhi police in his hometown Mathura, 135 km away from Delhi, a day after he was accused of raping a woman inside his Uber cab, said Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat.
“Yadav is accused under three sections of the Indian Penal code, for rape, physical assault and threatening to kill the victim,” said Madhur Verma, the deputy commissioner of police.
The woman had booked the Uber cab on Saturday night in Delhi’s Vasant Vihar neighborhood.
She fell asleep in the backseat and woke up to find that the cab had stopped in a remote area. The driver then raped her. Yadav also threatened to kill her, her complaint to the police said.
He later dropped the woman close to her home where she managed to take a picture of the license plate before Yadav drove away.
“Our thoughts are with the victim of this terrible crime and we are working with the police as they investigate. 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,” Evelyn Tay, Uber spokeswoman, said in a statement.
“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” added the statement.
However, Uber had not completed a mandatory police verification of the accused driver.
"The company will be charged for not getting a mandatory verification of the driver that all public service providers have to get under government rules,” said police commissioner Verma.
The San Francisco-based company allows smartphone users to book nearby taxis and work out fares, a godsend for private hire cars.
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