Rough rides: Ola accuses Uber of being 'low on morality'

Ride-hailing service Ola has gone on the offensive in its longstanding battle with arch rival Uber by calling it "low on morality" and described as "despicable" what Ola called Uber's attempts to trivialise the rape of a woman passenger allegedly by a Uber driver in New Delhi in December 2014.

The statement comes after a report on technology news website Recode revealed that Uber's former president of business in the Asia Pacific region Eric Alexander, was fired for obtaining the medical records of the passenger and discussing it with top Uber executives, including company founder Travis Kalanick and senior vice-president Emil Michael.

Recode had quoted sources who said that Uber seemed sceptical of the woman passenger's account given to the police, and even thought it was an attempt by Ola to hurt Uber's brand in India.

Recode reported that numerous Uber executives were either told about the records or shown them by this group and sources said Alexander had carried around the document for "about a year" before other executives, "presumably the legal department, obtained the report and destroyed his copy".

In its statement put up by news website Buzzfeed, Ola said, "It is a shame that the privacy and morals of a woman have to be questioned in an attempt to trivialise a horrific crime. It is despicable that anyone can even conceive an attempt to malign competition using this as an opportunity. If this report were to be even remotely true, this is an all-time low on morality and a reflection of the very character of an organisation."

Buzzfeed added that Uber declined to comment about Ola's statement. Amit Jain, the company's India President, told Buzzfeed that Uber " responded by working closely with law enforcement and the prosecution to support their investigation and see the perpetrator brought to justice."