Uber employee in Bengaluru booked for siphoning off Rs 30 lakh

Uber India, the app-based cab service, has filed a criminal case against one of its employees for allegedly siphoning off Rs 30 lakh from the firm since February 2016. The crime came to light following an internal probe on October 25 this year.

Christian Freese, general manager of the cab aggregator, filed a case against Arshad Basha, a partner support representative, and his associate Saif Ali Khan. The case was filed with the HSR Layout police on Tuesday.

Police said Arshad was working at Uber’s Parangipalya branch in HSR Layout. One policy of Uber is to pay monetary incentives to people who introduce driver partners to the fleet. The money is supposed to be deposited directly into the beneficiary’s bank account. During an internal probe, the firm found that about Rs 30 lakh was deposited into a single account between February 1, 2016 and October 25 this year.


Cops seek supporting documents from Uber
Uber’s probe revealed the account belonged to Saif Ali Khan, a close associate of Arshad. It also found Saif had never introduced a single driver partner to Uber.

Christian has alleged that both Arshad and his friend conspired to pocket the money. “The duo not only cheated the firm, but also cheated hundreds of drivers who were supposed to be paid for introducing driver partners to the firm,” a police officer said.

A senior police officer said they have sought supporting documents from Uber to prove their allegations. “We will verify the documents. We will summon the accused persons or nab them if we find they have cheated the firm,” police said.

HSR Layout cops have registered a case against Arshad as well as Saif under IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 418 (cheating with knowledge that wrongful loss may ensue to person whose interests offender is bound to protect), 417 (punishment for cheating) and section 66D (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource) of Information Technology Act 2008.