The taxi driver who reported a passenger to Mumbai Police after overhearing the latter talk about protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), was felicitated on Saturday by the Mumbai unit chief of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Mangal Prabhat Lodha. The driver, Rohit Gour, works with the taxi-aggregator app Uber, which has temporarily suspended Gour and is investigating the incident.
Gour said he received a call from Lodha’s personal assistant on Saturday afternoon, and was asked to meet Lodha at Santacruz police station. Once there, he was garlanded by Lodha and given a sheet of paper that read “Alert Citizen Award”.
“Lodha said he will extend any help I require and also assured me he would to talk to Uber to reactivate my ID,” said Gour.
BJP’s north-central zone head Sushma Sawant, south Mumbai BJP zonal head Sharad Chintankar and BJP corporator from Santacruz Hetal Gala were also present.
A close aide of Lodha said the ‘award’ was made on an A4 sheet at the station. No cash reward has been given by either Lodha or BJP’s Mumbai unit.
“I felicitated Rohit Gour on behalf of the people of Mumbai for being an alert citizen. He spotted anti-national conspiracy and should be appreciated,” said Lodha.
On Wednesday night, Gour was driving poet Bappadittya Sarkar from Kurla to Juhu. When he overheard Sarkar talk about anti-CAA protests, he recorded Sarkar’s conversation. Gour then made a detour, stopped the cab at Santacruz police station and reported Sarkar. Sarkar was questioned by the police and allowed to leave at around 1am.
{{/usCountry}}On Wednesday night, Gour was driving poet Bappadittya Sarkar from Kurla to Juhu. When he overheard Sarkar talk about anti-CAA protests, he recorded Sarkar’s conversation. Gour then made a detour, stopped the cab at Santacruz police station and reported Sarkar. Sarkar was questioned by the police and allowed to leave at around 1am.
{{/usCountry}}An officer from Santacruz police station said, “We examined what the Uber driver had recorded. We have found nothing in our inquiry.”
Responding to Gour being felicitated by BJP for reporting him, Sarkar, who is based in Jaipur and was visiting Mumbai to attend an arts festival, said, “It makes people believe I am a terrorist, and if I am, I should be behind bars now. But I am not behind bars. That means I haven’t done anything wrong. Through such incidents, they [BJP] are subjecting me and my family to a lot of risk.”
A spokesperson for Uber said, “We are in touch with both the rider and the driver, and are reviewing the matter. The access of the driver to the Uber application has been restricted for a period of 48 to 72 hours.”