After coming out of jail, the Bengaluru auto driver who allegedly threatened and slapped a woman passenger - though not seen doing that in the video which went viral- after she cancelled a ride while speaking to a YouTube channel claimed that all aggregator apps like Ola and Uber have banned him from their platforms.
In an interview with a local YouTube channel, the auto driver, identified as Muthuraj, clarified that he did not hit the woman. Admitting his mistake, he said he only grabbed the woman’s phone.
“I accept my mistake. I should not have grabbed her phone. I did not slap the woman as she claimed in the video. I just grabbed the phone to stop her calling the police.”
In the incident, which took place earlier this month, the woman passenger complained that she was threatened and slapped by the auto driver for cancelling the ride. She made a video of her ordeal showing Muthuraj abusing and threatening her for booking two autos at the same time and cancelling one while getting into another.
Soon after the video of the incident went viral on social media, Bengaluru police arrested the auto driver and asked people to dial 112 in such a situation.
However, after the auto driver came out of prison he found out that apps like Ola and Uber had banned him from their platforms. He also claimed that he received several threatening calls.
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"After the incident, Ola and Uber blocked me…also received death threats from unknown people,” said the auto driver in the YouTube interview.
However, on the other side, Muthuraj expressed his gratitude for the financial support he received from people in his troubled times.
"I received financial support from people and want to thank them for understanding my side of the story. I have no idea how to fight a legal battle therefore I am set to meet the auto unions and see what can be done."
