Ola sacks Mumbai driver who lured, molested woman, then asked her to ‘be his friend’

Ride-hailing service Ola has terminated the services of Shadabh Mohammad Ibrahim Shaikh, a driver who was arrested and charged with kidnapping and molesting a woman last month after HT reported the incident on May 1.

Shaikh was arrested by the RAK Marg police for kidnapping and molesting the woman, a 32-year-old housewife from Sewri.

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According to the police, he smooth talked her into getting into his car. He then began to harass her, asking her to be his friend, insisted that she share her number with him and snatched her mobile phone.

The woman managed to get out of the car, upon which Shaikh fled the scene with her phone. His luck ran out, however, when his wife sold it for Rs 500 to a mobile shop owner in Ghatkopar.

A police officer said, “We had put a trace on her phone and as soon as the shop owner inserted a SIM card, we located him and brought him to the police station. Questioning him led us to Shaikh, who was arrested.”

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An officer from RAK Marg police station said, “We are checking whether the accused had committed any such crimes in the past and will charge him accordingly.”

Ola issued a statement, which read, “We terminated the driver partner from the Ola platform as soon as we received a complaint from the customer. Safety of users is of utmost importance to us and we have zero tolerance towards any such behaviour. We have assured the customer of full support in further investigation of the issue.”

Shaikh was booked for using criminal force on woman with intent to outrage her modesty), kidnapping, robbery and criminal intimidation under the Indian penal Code. He was produced in court and remanded in police custody.