Thane, Dec 17: A 19 year old Rapido bike taxi rider was arrested in Kalyan in Thane district for allegedly molesting a 26 year old woman passenger and robbing her of ₹1,000 during a booked ride, police said on Monday.
The accused identified as Siddhesh Pardeshi a Class 7 dropout who had been working with the bike taxi aggregator for around one and a half months was taken into custody on Sunday. He has been remanded to police custody till December 18 while investigations are underway to ascertain whether he was involved in similar offences earlier.
According to police the incident occurred on Saturday evening when the woman booked a Rapido bike taxi from the Chickenghar area to her gym near the Kalyan railway station. Instead of proceeding to the destination the rider allegedly diverted the scooter to a deserted and poorly lit stretch near the police colony in the Syndicate area.
“When the woman objected he stopped the scooter grabbed her hand and behaved in an indecent manner. He also snatched her purse and took ₹1,000 from it” said Baliramsingh Pardeshi senior inspector at Mahatma Phule police station.
The woman raised an alarm drawing the attention of local residents who caught the accused and allegedly assaulted him before handing him over to the police. A knife was also recovered from the accused at the time of his arrest the police said.
The incident has also triggered action by the transport authorities. An official from the Kalyan Regional Transport Office (RTO) said a challan was issued under the Motor Vehicles Act for operating an unauthorised bike taxi.
“The rider violated provisions of Maharashtra Bike Taxi Rules 2025 by operating a conventional petrol-powered motorcycle instead of an electric two wheeler which is mandatory” the RTO official said adding that penal action had been initiated and a fine imposed.
The RTO has also written to the local police seeking registration of a complaint against the bike taxi aggregator company for violating permit conditions. In a related development the state transport department said it has sought explanations from aggregators such as Rapido Ola and Uber for allegedly operating illegal bike taxi services warning that their temporary licences could be cancelled.
Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik has called an urgent meeting of transport department officials in the wake of the incident and other reported irregularities officials said.
