Police on Sunday arrested an Uber driver accused of raping a woman in the Indian capital, authorities said.
Shiv Kumar Yadav is in custody in Mathura, about 150 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of New Delhi, said Madhur Verma, deputy commissioner of police for North Delhi, in a text message.
Investigators seized the vehicle, but weren’t immediately able to arrest the suspect, who Verma said was “running here and there.”
When Yadav registered as an Uber driver, he used his real name but an incorrect address, Verma said.
“His address and background (were) unverified. He was not having (the mandatory) security badge which is given after police verification,” Verma said in a separate text message.
Uber said in a statement that it “exclusively partners” with registered drivers who have been through the commercial licensing process and who have government identification and state-issued permits.
The alleged victim is a 26-year-old employee of a finance company in Gurgaon, a New Delhi suburb, he said.
After work Friday, she had dinner at a friend’s apartment before ordering an Uber car to take her home, Verma said.
She dozed off in the automobile, she told police, according to Verma. When she woke up, the driver had parked the car on a “deserted stretch,” where he assaulted her, Verma said, citing her complaint.
The driver dumped her near her home in the northern police district of the city, according to the officer.
She called police at 1:30 a.m. Saturday, less than an hour after the attack.
In its statement, Uber called the alleged assault an “abhorrent crime” and said it had given police the driver’s name, photo, address and vehicle registration, along with details of the trip during which the assault allegedly occurred.
“Our thoughts remain with the victim who has shown tremendous courage under the circumstances,” the company said. “We will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement officials in their investigation to bring this crime to justice.”
The December 2012 gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student in New Delhi put the spotlight on sexual assaults in the country of 1.25 billion people. Four of the six men involved in the attack were sentenced to death, and their cases are navigating the appeals process.
The crime ignited campaigns to call attention to violent crime targeting women, and since then, rapes have made headlines all over the country, from the districts of Moradabad, Badaun, Bahraich, Kushinagar and Mumbai.
In June, three brothers confessed to raping two teenage girls in Uttar Pradesh state. Police said at first that the suspects hanged their victims from a mango tree, but an investigation of their deaths concluded late last month that the girls committed suicide. One of the victim’s brothers has said he is skeptical of the investigation’s findings.
Last week, video emerged of sisters Aarti and Pooja Kumar punching and thrashing three men with a belt while riding a bus in the northern state of Haryana. The sisters accused the men of harassing them and told CNN affiliate IBN they hope the video of them fighting back deters other attacks.
“Parents must teach their sons how to behave with women,” Aarti Kumar, 22, told the station.