Thane, Dec 15: In a shocking incident highlighting safety concerns surrounding bike taxi services, a Rapido bike taxi rider was arrested in Kalyan, Thane district, for allegedly molesting a woman passenger and robbing her of ₹1,000, police officials said on Monday.
The accused has been identified as Siddhesh Pardeshi (19), a Class VII dropout, who was taken into custody on Sunday by the Mahatma Phule Police Station following the incident that occurred on Saturday evening.
According to senior inspector Baliramsingh Pardeshi, the 26-year-old woman had booked a Rapido bike taxi from the Chickenghar area around 7 pm to travel to her gym near Kalyan railway station. Instead of taking her to the destination, the rider allegedly diverted the scooter towards a deserted and poorly lit stretch near the police colony in the Syndicate area.
“When the woman protested, the accused stopped the vehicle, held her hand and behaved indecently. He also snatched her purse and took ₹1,000 in cash,” the police official said.
The woman raised an alarm, following which local residents rushed to the spot, caught the accused, and thrashed him before handing him over to the police. During the investigation, police also recovered a knife from the accused.
The rider, who had been working with Rapido for the past one-and-a-half months, has been remanded to police custody till December 18. Police are now probing whether he was involved in similar crimes earlier.
Meanwhile, the incident has triggered a strong response from the Maharashtra State Transport Department. In an official release, the department stated that it has issued notices to bike taxi aggregators such as Rapido, Ola and Uber, asking them to explain why their temporary licences should not be cancelled for allegedly operating illegally and violating transport norms.
State Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik has called an urgent meeting on Tuesday to review this incident and other alleged irregularities related to app-based transport services, officials said.
The case has once again raised serious questions about passenger safety, background verification of riders, and regulation of bike taxi services in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
