A month on, no clue on Noida Uber driver’s killers

Almost a month after an Uber cab driver was stabbed to death near the office of the senior superintendent of police in Sector 14, the police are yet to identify the culprits. The victim, Gaurav (21), was allegedly stabbed by unidentified bike-borne assailants at about 11.30 pm in front of his minor cousins. He was declared dead on arrival in the hospital.

“The police have not identified any of the attackers. There were more than three people involved in the incident. The police claim it was a case of road rage, but how did three bike-borne men get into a scuffle with my cousin when he was hit by another car at Sector 14,” said Gaurav’s cousin Satbeer Chauhan (25), a Noida resident. Gaurav too lived in Noida, in a rented accommodation.

According to the police, on the night of May 29, a speeding car hit Gaurav’s cab from behind. He got down from the vehicle with two of his cousins, aged 12 and 16, and got into a heated argument with the car’s driver. Meanwhile, three unidentified bike-borne men stopped there and started arguing with Gaurav. Following a heated argument, one of them stabbed him, the police added.

Chauhan said he has been running from pillar to post to get justice and his family is planning to knock on the chief minister’s doors if the police do not find the culprits soon.

“We are tired of requesting the police to identify the attackers and are now planning to seek the CM’s help,” he added.

At the time of the incident, Gaurav was driving a cab owned by a Sector 93 resident. Chauhan claimed Gaurav was in an illicit relationship with the cab owner’s domestic help, who was married.

“Gaurav had met the married woman during his earlier employment with a private company. Her husband found out about their relationship and complained to the owner of the factory where they both worked. The owner sacked both Gaurav and the woman, but Gaurav was hired again,” said Chauhan.

He said Gaurav got a job offer from a woman who has a cab associated with cab aggregator Uber. He left the factory and started working for Uber. However, as the married woman was still unemployed the two pretended to be married and he took her to his employer’s residence where she was hired as a domestic help, Chauhan added.

“A day before his murder, Gaurav had taken her to his ancestral home at Bulandshahr. During the case investigation, the police picked up her husband over suspicion. However, they found his location at the time of the incident to be elsewhere. The police claim he has not murdered Gaurav and it is a case of road rage,” said Chauhan.

The police, however, maintained that the case is under investigation and nothing conclusive has been found yet.

“We have made sketches of the suspects. A team is investigating the case. The culprits will be arrested soon,” said Dinesh Yadav, superintendent of police, Noida.