Uber cab driver accused of rape was trying to flee to Nepal after crime, say police

New Delhi, Dec 8: The Uber cab driver, who had allegedly raped a 27-year-old woman here on Friday night in his taxi, was planning to flee to Nepal before police arrested him in the nick of time from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.

The accused, identified as Shiv Kumar Yadav, had married his own widowed sister-in-law and had told her and his stepson to be ready with the baggage.

"He had purchased a new mobile phone and SIM card in Mathura and was in touch with them through that. He had told them that he had had an altercation with someone and they were trying to implicate him in a false case so they should leave their rented accommodation in Chandrapuri locality of Mathura.

He was collecting money to either flee to Nepal or Gorakhpur," said a senior police official. Yadav was using three mobile phones and police will take him to Meerut to recover the smartphone which had the Uber App used in the crime. During his three days in police custody, investigators will try and determine whether he victimized his other feamle customers as well.

"He has been driving taxi in the national capital for the last several years. He was with Uber during the last six months. We would thoroughly check whether he was involved in any other crime," he said.

Senior police officials also said that they are now going to run a check with all the radio taxi services in the national capital whether they follow proper guidelines in plying of their taxi services like a mandatory GPS tracker and drivers who have been verified by the police.

PTI