BENGALURU: An Uber cab driver allegedly kidnapped a 15-year-old student and drove him around the city in his vehicle for over six hours, and set him free a little after midnight after he learnt that the police had been informed.
The driver has been identified as Tabrez. He is still at large.
The incident took place Friday evening. Siddharth (name changed), a class X student and resident of Sarjapur Road, went to his tuition class at BDA Layout after school hours and booked a cab under Uberpool thereafter to go home. He got the cab at around 6.30 pm and informed his father that he was heading home.
Meanwhile, another passenger boarded the car under Uberpool and was dropped off at Bellandur. As soon as the other passenger got down, driver Tabrez snatched the boy’s mobile phone and school bag and forced him to hide in the leg space of the back seat, Siddharth said after the ordeal.
The terrified boy was forced to crouch in that position for more than three hours as the driver continued to move around. After a while, Tabrez stopped the car and said he needed money. "He said he would call my father and asked me to stay inside," Siddharth told police.
Siddharth's parents were alarmed when the boy had not reached home by 7.30 pm. With no means of contacting Uber, they approached a family friend for help. He advised them to book another cab, and they managed to contact the Uber office. After a while, they were given the cab driver's number. Reached by phone, the driver told them that he had dropped the boy near his home at 7.30 pm.
However, Siddharth's parents grew suspicious as Tabrez's responses were not convincing and Siddharth’s mobile phone continued to be switched off. They decided to approach the Varthur police, who managed to contact the driver.
Scared that the police were alerted, Tabrez left the boy at a hotel near Whitefield at around 12.30 am and fled with the boy's school bag and phone. Siddharth was able to explain his ordeal to the security staff at the hotel. They helped him to contact his parents.
Two policemen and a friend of the boy’s parents took him back home a little after midnight.
According to a senior officer at the Varthur police station, Uber did not respond properly to parents’ anxious queries. "They kept giving excuses without giving us the whereabouts of the cab. Despite the gravity of the situation, they said they needed to take permission from senior executives. We have filed a case of negligence against the company," the police officer said.
Speaking to New Indian Express, Siddharth's father, who didn't want to be named, said the Uber staff were indifferent when he contacted them for help."There is no helpline and the executives did not respond properly. The company is also responsible as they do not provide adequate safety to passengers," he said.