Ex-Uber driver, two aides arrested for robbing cabbie

The accused tried to rob Uber drivers to get quick cash to celebrate his girl friend’s birthday. He was recently put out of Uber’s driver’s network and was looking to get back at the company.

Under pressure to celebrate his girlfriend’s birthday on Sunday, a former Uber driver — the company had put him out of its driver network recently following numerous customer complaints — planned to rob a multiple Uber cabs to make a quick buck and get back at the company for disassociating with him.

The accused was recently taken out of the Uber’s driver network.

However, his very first attempt landed him behind bars along with three of his associates, one of them a juvenile. One of the arrested suspects was wanted in a murder case, police said.

Police have identified the driver Jasveer Singh (24). His associates were identified as Gurpreet Singh (19), who is also wanted for a murder in 2018, and Akash Dayal, 22.

According to the police, on Saturday, the Bindapur police station received a call from one Mukesh Thakur, a Uber driver, who reported that he was robbed of his valuables on a gunpoint by four men who had booked a ride with him. The driver also told the police that the robbers could not flee with his vehicle as the electronic key broke as they tried to snatch it from him.

After police identified the suspects, they received information that three of the suspects would come to Sanyog Vihar.

“A trap was laid and the three men, who were on a motocycle were intercepted and arrested. A butcher’s knife and a loaded pistol were recovered from them. The motorcycle they were riding on was also a stolen one and had a fake number plate,” deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka) Anto Alphonse, said.

Alphonse said Jasveer told police that he had worked with Uber for a few months as a driver but was thrown out of the job following frequent complaints from passengers. “Jasveer said he wanted to get back at Uber and so he planned to rob the company’s drivers,” the DCP said.

Alphonse said Sunday was the birthday of Jasveer’s girlfriends but he had no money for celebrations. “He discussed his plan to rob Uber cabs with his friends. They booked a ride around 2 am on Saturday. After boarding the cab, they forced the driver, Thakur, to stop the taxi,” the officer said.

Police said while Gurpreet aimed a pistol at Thakur, others tried to snatch the keys but it broke. “The four then robbed the driver. They said they spent the money on a birthday party and planned to rob other Uber drivers,” the DCP said.

“We have reached out to the partner to check on his well-being and have been helping law enforcement authorities with the investigation,” a Uber spokesperson said.