app cab satyarup

Kolkata: A summit celebration dinner turned nasty for city mountaineer Satyarup Siddhanta on Thursday night when he was allegedly threatened by an Uber driver who refused to take him home and even called in a group of men who further intimidated Siddhanta and his friends. Sidhhanta had allegedly dialled 100 and had lodged multiple complaints with the app cab operator over Twitter and the in-app service, but help didn’t arrive from either end.He waited till past midnight outside Acropolis Mall waiting for a response.
“The cops were too reluctant to react and initially said they were unable to identify the location — something as popular as Acropolis Mall — and then said I should lodge a complaint with the app cab operator. And even though they promised help would arrive soon from Kasba police station, none came to the spot even after half an hour,” said Siddhanta, a 35-year-old IT professional who holds the record of being the youngest to have scaled seven summits and seven volcanic peaks. He had scaled Mount Sidley in Antartica last month and returned to the city barely a week ago.
Siddhanta said he had a delayed response from the app cab operators as well, who allegedly called him 18 hours after the complaint was lodged and told him they were taking appropriate action against the driver.
“What’s been described today is deeply upsetting. Our community guidelines clearly reject such inappropriate behaviour, and safety of all our riders is paramount. The individual in question cannot access the app any more. We stand ready to support the law enforcement authorities in their investigation and proceedings in any way possible,” an Uber spokesperson said.
According to Siddhanta, he had booked a cab and was waiting outside Acropolis Mall with two friends to head home to Thakurpukur’s Kabardanga around 11.30pm on Thursday. “However, when the cab arrived and we tried to get in, the driver asked for our drop location. On learning it was at Thakupukur, he said he wouldn’t go that far and asked me to cancel the ride. As we tried to reason with him, I realised the driver was not the person that the app photograph showed and neither was the car number the same. I believe he had picked up someone else’s device and was driving for the night,” the complainant said.
When Siddhanta and his friends refused to get out of the car, the driver called someone, all the while threatened the group with dire consequences. Satyarup also dialled 100 who asked him to call Uber’s helpline number.
As they continued to argue, three men arrived at the scene and asked us to get down. “As we came out, the driver sped away and the men then began intimidating us. One of my friends took out her cellphone and began video recording them when the men backed off and left the place,” said Satyarup.
The incident left Satyarup in shock and fear as he was carrying a very expensive altimeter watch and didn’t take the chance to head home for the night fearing the men could track his home address he had pinned in the drop location and stayed back at a friend’s place in Kalikapur.
“Uber officials called me only after I had narrated my plight to some journalist friends and the first thing they told me was that they were sorry as they have already studied my profile and knew who I am. But I just asked them that what happens to a common man who may not be a public figure? How can they expect a safe drive and a quick response in case of an emergency?” said Satyarup.