Amid rise in carjackings, apps not conducting driver, rider verification on Mohali police radar

Mohali senior superintendent of police (SSP) Deepak Pareek said a special investigation team will analyse the drawbacks of cab-hailing apps, including inDrive, and write to their headquarters to ensure proper verification of drivers and passengers

Mohali police will be constituting a special investigation team (SIT) to probe a series of alarming taxi robbery cases involving “passengers” who booked rides through mobile applications.

On Wednesday, Mohali police arrested two men who had robbed a cab driver of his vehicle around 4 am on Monday after booking his cab from Sector-43 ISBT in Chandigarh to Sector 109, Mohali, through the inDrive mobile app. (HT Photo)

The decision follows recent incidents of carjackings, primarily linked to the cab-hailing service inDrive, which, according to police, lacks adequate driver and customer verification processes before allowing them to use their mobile app.

The SIT will be scrutinising the functioning of such mobile app-based cab services. “We have come across multiple cases where carjackings were committed after booking a cab ride through the inDrive app,” stated Mohali senior superintendent of police (SSP) Deepak Pareek.

“To address this, we will form an SIT comprising cyber experts, including DSP cyber crime, along with inspectors. The team will analyse the drawbacks of cab-hailing apps, including inDrive, and write to their headquarters to ensure proper verification of drivers and passengers,” he added.

On Wednesday, Mohali police arrested two men who had robbed a cab driver of his vehicle around 4 am on Monday after booking his cab from Sector-43 ISBT in Chandigarh to Sector 109, Mohali, through the inDrive mobile app. They had used a stolen mobile phone to create a fake profile on the app to book the ride.

InDrive officials could not be immediately contacted for a comment.