Mumbai: Cab driver held for allegedly misbehaving with actor, threatening her

Mumbai: The Mumbai police on Sunday arrested a 24-year-old driver of cab aggregator Uber after film actor and director Manava Naik complained that he misbehaved with her and threatened her with dire consequences while she was going home here in his taxi, an official said.

The accused cab driver, a resident of Antop Hill in central Mumbai, was apprehended by the detection branch of Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) police station, he said.

An Uber spokesperson in a statement said the incident was “deplorable” and in violation of their safety guidelines.

The actor, who has worked in Marathi and Hindi films, posted about the incident that took place on Saturday evening, on her Facebook account.

According to Naik’s first-person account, she took the cab at 8.15 pm from the BKC in Mumbai to go home. As she sat in the cab, the driver started talking on phone, to which she took an objection as he was driving.

The driver also violated traffic rules by jumping a signal in the BKC, for which a traffic cop stopped the cab and clicked its photo, she mentioned in the post. The driver started arguing with the cop. The actor then intervened and asked the traffic policeman to let the vehicle move as he had clicked its picture.

The cab driver got angry and shouted at Naik, asking whether she would pay the fine of Rs 500 for him and threatened her with dire consequences, the actor claimed.

During their argument, the actor told the driver to take the cab to a police station, but he stopped the vehicle in the BKC at a spot in the dark.

The driver then speeded up the vehicle and headed towards a route between Chunabhatti Road and Priyadarshani Park. Naik called up the Uber Safety helpline to complain. As the helpline executive was on the call with her, the driver again raised the cab speed, she mentioned in the post. Naik said she asked the driver to stop, but he did not do so and started calling somebody. The actor said was scared and started shouting for help.

Two persons on a motorbike and an autorickshaw driver cornered the cab driver and she was rescued, the actor said.

“I am safe but definitely scared,” Naik said in her post.

Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Vishwas Nangre Patil replied to the post, saying the city police have taken a serious cognizance of the incident and action will be taken soon against the culprit.

“Manava ji, we have taken serious cognizance of this grave incident! Dcp zone 8 is working on it and will book the culprit soonest possible,” he said.

Naik on Sunday approached the BKC police station and lodged a complaint, following which a first information report (FIR) under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 354 (assault or criminal force against woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 506 (criminal intimidation) was registered and the accused was arrested, a police official said.

The cab aggregator in a statement said, “What has been described is deplorable and has no place on our platform. This is in violation of our community guidelines that uphold safety for all.” “Our team has already connected with the rider to provide support and the driver’s access to the Uber app has been removed,” it added.