BENGALURU: Police arrested an autorickshaw driver on Thursday evening for allegedly assaulting a woman for cancelling the Ola ride she booked in the city on Tuesday.
The auto driver has been identified as Muthuraj.
The woman and her friend booked two Ola autos during peak-hour traffic. When one of them arrived, the woman cancelled her ride. Enraged by this, Muthuraj followed the auto in which the woman and her friend were travelling. He forced their auto to stop after overtaking it in Magadi Road police limits and took the woman to task for cancelling the ride.When the woman defended her action of cancelling the ride, Muthuraj allegedly slapped her stating that he wasted money on fuel because of her.
A video of the incident went viral after the woman posted it on X on Wednesday. She claimed that she did not get a proper response from Ola except for an automated reply. Taking cognisance of her post, Magadi Road police arrested Muthuraj.
S Girish, DCP (West), on Thursday confirmed that the auto driver has been arrested.
Ola seeks more info on incident
Meanwhile, Ola termed the incident alarming and requested the woman to give more details. She stated that the driver got angry when she started recording the incident. “When I told him that I would inform the police, he challenged me to do so and tried to snatch my phone. When I resisted his attempt, he slapped me,” she said. Stating that she never felt this unsafe in Bengaluru, the woman said as it was peak-hour traffic, two autos were booked to ensure that her friend did not miss her classes.