Taxi driver arrested for extorting ₹18,000 from US citizen

According to the police, the incident came to light after the woman shared the ordeal on the social media platform X, which garnered over 1.15 lakh views. Taking suo motu action, the police registered an FIR against the driver on Tuesday

MUMBAI: A taxi driver was arrested on Thursday for allegedly extorting ₹18,000 from a foreign national after dropping her at a five-star hotel located just 400 metres from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

According to the police, the incident came to light after the woman shared the ordeal on the social media platform X, which garnered over 1.15 lakh views. Taking suo motu action, the police registered an FIR against the driver on Tuesday. In her post, Argentina Ariano wrote, “Landed in Mumbai recently and took a taxi to @HiltonHotels. The driver and another guy took us to an unknown location first, charged us $200 ( ₹18,000), and then dropped us at the hotel, which was only 400m away.”

Following the post, police collected the woman’s details from the hotel, where she had checked in on January 12 and checked out the next day before travelling to Pune. She later returned to the US. “The woman did not report the incident to hotel staff at the time. We are attempting to record her statement through video conferencing,” anofficer from Sahar police station said.

Using CCTV footage from the hotel premises, police traced the taxi and arrested the driver, seizing his vehicle. “We will forward his details to the Regional Transport Office for cancellation of his licence. He has been booked for cheating,” the officer added.