A woman passenger was allegedly troubled by an Ola cab driver in Bengaluru late on Monday. The incident took place when Akanksha Hazari, a Mumbai-based Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a private company, boarded a cab from Kempegowda International Airport.
@Olacabs what are you doing to keep women safe, truly? Because right now, it looks like women are just a revenue stream to whom you do enough to *appear* to care, but you're just in it for our $ in reality. Once you have it, you're gone. @bhash @ola_supports
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
The passenger took to Twitter to describe the horrifying incident and said that the cab driver deviated from the app route and took a deserted road near the toll area to avoid toll as he claimed he had no money.
Feeling unsafe and alone, she asked the driver to go on the route directed by the app. But the driver became aggressive and asked her to get out from the car in a dark place where she saw some men loitering.
"I immediately pressed the Ola emergency button & got a callback. I explained the situation to the Olacabs exec & he spoke to the driver. The agent spoke to me again; he said the driver will drop me to the location & that the exec was now actively tracking my ride" she tweeted.
Once the driver was back on the road, the executive cut the phone and a little later the driver stopped the car in a dim lit place and started making calls. Fearing the situation, she again pressed the emergency button and was directed to another Ola executive.
As the battery on her phone was low, the Ola executive asked her to take the drivers phone and to keep it on the loudspeaker, so that he won't be able to make any calls.
"I take the phone with the agent on speaker. The driver gets in the car & the ride starts again. The next 30-45 mins are incredibly stressful. I am doing my best to calm myself and stay alert in case anything further happens", she added.
Finally, she reaches her destination and gets out of the car as soon as possible leaving a nightmare behind her.
The Bengaluru city police have raised concerns over the matter and have asked her to provide further information on the incident.
Please provide vehicle details and driver details for necessary action in this regard. And send your contact number via DM for further communication.
— BengaluruCityPolice (@BlrCityPolice) December 11, 2018
After she tweeted about the horrific incident, an Ola executive told her that they are looking into the matter and that the driver has been suspended.
In a statement, an Ola spokesperson told International Business Times, India that they deeply regret the experience that Akanksha had to go through.
"The driver in question had been off-roaded immediately and has been blacklisted from the Ola platform. Safety of customers is our top priority and we are committed to ensuring that initiatives like the in-app Emergency button, a 24x7 Safety Response Team, and Ola Guardian amongst others, help our customers feel safe when they use the Ola platform. We have extended support to the police in sharing all the information to help them with the investigation," the statement said.
