Uber Cab Driver A Serial Offender: Out On Bail For 2013 Rape Case, Arrested In 2006 Under Arms Act

Shiv Kumar Yadav, the cab driver for Uber who is accused of raping a 27-year-old woman in New Delhi, India, on Friday night, is undergoing trial in a 2013 rape case and was out on bail, NDTV, a local news network reported Tuesday. The accused was reportedly also arrested in 2003 for assaulting a woman.

Yadav, who had been working with Uber for nearly six months, was also arrested in 2006 under the Arms Act, which is related to the illegal use, possession and sale of arms and ammunition. On Monday, local media reports had said that he was involved in a 2011 sexual assault case and spent nearly seven months in a Delhi jail before being acquitted. Authorities also revealed that a character certificate that Yadav claimed was from the Delhi police and provided to Uber was fake, NDTV reported.

Officials of Uber India reportedly told police during the first day of questioning that they only went through documents provided by the cab drivers, and did not run further checks on their authenticity.

Delhi police booked the San-Francisco based company on charges of cheating customers by promising them a safe commute by verified drivers, while the transport department blacklisted the services of the company for failing to run a complete check on its drivers. Authorities also banned the use of all Internet-based taxi services that are not registered with the state government until they acquire the correct operating license.

However, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday disagreed with the decision of banning Uber services in Delhi. "New developments are taking place in transport systems through electronics. Banning the railways for train accidents, buses for bus accidents and taxis is not correct," Gadkari said, according to The Times of India, a local newspaper.

"As per a report, 30 per cent of the driving licenses in the country are bogus... We are going to change the 1988 Motor Vehicles Act by which we will have a centre comprising all records of drivers. That would help solve the problem of accessing the accident and criminal records of drivers," he reportedly said.

The accused driver was arrested after a search operation in a town south of New Delhi on Sunday and was ordered to police custody for three days by a Delhi court on Monday. Charges are likely to be filed against Yadav within the next 20 days, Zee News, a local news network reported.