Uber received complaint about rape accused driver from another woman

December 10, 2014

Uber cab driverNew Delhi, Dec 10: A US-based woman came forward on Tuesday saying she had filed a complaint with Uber against the driver, accused of raping a 25-year-old executive, almost a week ago. However, no action was taken by the app-based cab hailing service, she alleged.

Shiv Kumar Yadav has been sent to police custody after the reported attack on Friday, when the woman said he raped her in his taxi, threatened to insert a metal rod inside her and ordered her not to tell authorities about the incident.

Nidhi Shah, who took Yadav's cab on November 26, first revealed her experience with Yadav on Twitter. In a series of tweets, Shah posted pictures of the taxi receipt, which had the driver's name written on it, and of her email complaint to Uber.

"I took a cab with Shiv Kumar Yadav in Delhi on November 26, scares me beyond belief," Shah tweeted.

"I had reported Him to Uber. They replied via email that they would check on him," she wrote.

"I was coming from Chandni Chowk and the driver started staring at me and giving me lecherous glances. He kept smiling at me and looking at me using the rare view mirror. The situation became so bad that I had to hide behind the seat to avoid his stares. I later filed a written complaint with Uber but no action was taken against the driver," said Shah told NDTV.

She said she received a reply from Uber saying "someone will have a chat with the driver", but there was no further follow-up.

Shah went back to the US few days after the incident but said that the laid back attitude of people encourages such perpetrators.

"I blame myself for not taking the complaint seriously. Maybe if I had insisted on stricter action, the (rape) incident could have been avoided," she told the TV channel.

Uber's head of Asia operations Allen Penn told Hindustan Times his firm is deeply sorry for the woman who was sexually assaulted and will do everything to support her family.

When asked whether they check the antecedents of the drivers, Penn said his company checks vehicles and all documents in person when a driver registers with them.

"We check drivers license, commercial vehicle registration and banking information. We get that for all the drivers. We have had frequent communication with the police and we hope justice is brought. We know the documents that are required. All payments to drivers are made electronically to their bank accounts. Banks have KYC for all account holders. We will see what else can we do. We will continue to improve."

The 32-year-old has emerged as a notorious serial sexual offender and also got bail in other cases, including one that charged him with illegal possession of a gun.

Yadav was arrested in Mainpuri in 2013 on rape charges but released on bail six months later. Delhi Police have already revealed his involvement in another previous case of rape in 2011, for which he spent seven months in Tihar jail but was let off after the case fell.

Official records show Yadav has a string of criminal complaints against him, including two molestation cases, but managed to obtain a character reference signed by a police officer that appeared to have been forged.

Nidhi Shah

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News Network
March 6,2020

Mumbai, Mar 6: Harried Yes Bank depositors rushed to ATMs to withdraw cash but faced multitude of problems including closed down machines and long queues, after the RBI placed the bank under a moratorium, capping maximum withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per account for a month.

Aggravating the problems of depositors were difficulties accessing the internet banking channel, which ensured that they can't transfer the funds online as well. At an ATM in south Mumbai's Horniman Circle, with the RBI headquarters overlooking it, the shutters were pulled down.

The guard on duty said the machine was non-operational before he reported to work late in the evening and he was ordered to shut it after 2200 hrs. In the residential area of suburban Chembur, one ATM was dispensing cash but had a long queue of anxious depositors.

One man said it was still possible to withdraw up to Rs 50,000 in multiple transactions from the machine.

However, another machine nearby had run dry within minutes of the RBI announcement, a woman said.

The regulatory actions, undertaken by the RBI and the government, came hours after finance ministry sources confirmed that SBI was directed to bail out the troubled lender.

For the next month, Yes Bank will be led by the RBI-appointed administrator Prashant Kumar, an ex-chief financial officer of SBI.

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News Network
April 25,2020

Chennai, Apr 25: Civic authorities on Saturday turned down a plea for exhuming the body of a doctor who died of COVID-19 here and burying it in another cemetery, citing health experts' view that it was unsafe to do so. Citing a request from the wife of the deceased doctor to allow exhumation and then re-burial at a cemetery in Kilpauk, the Greater Chennai Corporation said it sought a report from a committee of public health experts to ascertain the feasibility of entertaining her plea.

The spouse of the doctor had appealed to the GCC on April 22 to exhume and bury again her husband's body. She had said that burial in the Kilpauk cemetery here was her husband's last wish and he had conveyed it to her before he was put on a ventilator.

The report of experts has said that "it is not safe" to exhume and again bury the body of a COVID-19 victim and hence "it is not possible to accept her request," the GCC said in an official release. On April 19, a city-based 55-year-old neurosurgeon died of coronavirus and his burial at the Velangadu crematorium here was marred by violence.

A mob which falsely feared that the burial may lead to the spread of contagion had attacked the corporation health employees and associates of the deceased doctor. The doctor's wife and son also had to leave the burial ground in view of the violence.

The body was brought to Velangadu as people of Kilpauk area had opposed his burial there. Over a dozen men involved allegedly in violence were arrested and remanded to judicial custody. Later, in a video message, the surgeon's wife had said that it was her husband's last wish to be interred at the Kilpauk cemetery as per Christian rituals

Chief Minister K Palaniswami and DMK president M K Stalin had spoken to her on Wednesday over the phone and condoled her husband's death.

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News Network
January 10,2020

Mumbai, Jan 10: India’s oil demand growth is set to overtake China by mid-2020s, priming the country for more refinery investment but making it more vulnerable to supply disruption in the Middle East, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday.

India’s oil demand is expected to reach 6 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2024 from 4.4 million bpd in 2017, but its domestic production is expected to rise only marginally, making the country more reliant on crude imports and more vulnerable to supply disruption in the Middle East, the agency said.

China’s demand growth is likely to be slightly lower than that of India by the mid-2020s, as per IEA’s China estimates given in November, but the gap would slowly become bigger thereafter.

“Indian economy is and will become even more exposed to risks of supply disruptions, geopolitical uncertainties and the volatility of oil prices,” the IEA said in a report on India’s energy policies.

Brent crude prices topped USD 70 a barrel on rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, putting pressure on emerging markets such as India. Like the rest of Asia, India is highly dependent on Middle East oil supplies with Iraq being its largest crude supplier.

India, which ranks No 3 in terms of global oil consumption after China and the United States, ships in over 80 per cent of its oil needs, of which 65 per cent is from the Middle East through the Strait of Hormuz, the IEA said.

The IEA, which coordinates release of strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) among developed countries in times of emergency, said it is important for India to expand its reserves.

REFINERY INVESTMENTS

India is the world’s fourth largest oil refiner and a net exporter of refined fuel, mainly gasoline and diesel.

India has drawn plans to lift its refining capacity to about 8 million bpd by 2025 from the current about 5 million bpd.

The IEA, however, forecasts India’s refining capacity to rise to 5.7 million bpd by 2024.

This would make “India a very attractive market for refinery investment,” IEA said.

Drawn to India’s higher fuel demand potential, global oil majors like Saudi Aramco, BP, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co and Total are looking at investing in India’s oil sector.

Saudi Aramco and ADNOC aim to own a 50 per cent stake in a planned 1.2-million bpd refinery in western Maharashtra state, for which land is yet to be acquired.

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