Good job, Delhi Police: Here's how they nabbed rape accused Uber driver

Two days after an Uber cab driver allegedly raped a 25-year-old female executive who was using the cab service to get home, he was arrested from Mathura and will be produced in a Delhi court on Monday.

The swift arrest was actually the culmination of some good initiatives by the Delhi police. Their actions here in fact, were in stark contrast to the aftermath of the Delhi gangrape of 2012, when the police was blamed for a lot of lapses. The bus that was used had illegal tinted windows and had even rolled through a row of police check points without being pulled over for inspection, while the rape was taking place. The girl’s friend said in interviews that after the men threw them onto the road, where the couple lay bleeding, police vans were slow to respond to calls for help.

In stark contrast this time around, the police was efficient and quick to file FIR. When the victim dialled 100, a PCR van rushed to the spot, reported Times of India. Soon, the local police had been informed and women cops were sent. She was taken to government hospital for medical examination.

“An FIR under sections of the law related to rape, abduction and assault was registered on the basis of her statement and investigations started. The woman’s statement was recorded in the presence of woman NGO counsellors and a manhunt was launched to nab the driver. The service provider was contacted in the early hours and verification documents obtained,” notes the Times of India report.

They also went all out to nab the accused driver, 32-year-old Shiv Kumar Yadav. The Delhi Police used 12 teams, each consisting of four-five members, who were dispatched to Mathura, where he was believed to have escaped to.

Yadav was located after police successfully traced his cell number, and was later nabbed after a 25 minute chase through the streets of Mathura. In initial reports it was announced that the driver had given the victim a missed call from his mobile number, telling her that he now had her details and threatening to kill her if she told anyone about what had happened.

Prior to catching him, the police had also announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information on the accused.

But what was truly innovative was how the police located the Uber office in Gurgaon soon after the victim made her complaint.

They were presented with a truly unique problem. Which was that the Uber website did not have a listed office address in Delhi. So Deputy Commissioner of Police, North, Madhur Verma downloaded the Uber app and booked a cab using it to trace its office in Signature Hotel, near IFFO Chowk, Gurgaon.

Since the service worked on a pre-paid wallet system he had to spend Rs 200 in order to book the cab.

“When the cab arrived at Hindu Rao Hospital, where Verma was present while the alleged victim underwent a medical examination, the DCP asked the SHO of Sarai Rohilla police station to get in and told the driver to take him straight to the Uber head office,” notes Indian Express in its report.

However, that was just the start of their problems. Police then discovered there was no one present in the office apart from two caretakers and the only way to access data about the cab concerned was to get it from the New York office.

The police had to wait for more than three hours before they got any details.