Mumbai, Feb 12: The Sahar Police have completed the process of cancellation of the taxi permits and driving licences of two drivers who charged an American tourist a hefty Rs 18,000 for a taxi ride of barely 400 metres. The proposal has been forwarded to the Regional Transport Office (RTO), which will take further action in the matter.
The taxi permit cancellation documents have been sent to the Tardeo RTO, while the driving licence cancellation documents have been forwarded to the Andheri RTO.
Senior Police Inspector Manoj Chalake of Sahar Police Station said the police will closely follow up on the matter of cancellation. Currently, both the accused drivers are in judicial custody.
Viral social media post exposed scam
The case came to light after a social media post by the American national, Argentina Ariano, went viral. In her post, she alleged that she had been scammed by a taxi driver shortly after arriving in Mumbai. Nearly 15 days after the incident, on January 26, she shared her experience on social media.
In the post, she wrote: “Landed in Mumbai recently, took a taxi to the Hilton Hotel. The driver and another man first took us to an unknown location, charged us $200 (Rs 18,000), and then dropped us at the hotel, which was only 400 metres away. Taxi No: MH 01 BD 5405.” She tagged Mumbai Police and Traffic Police and used the hashtag #scam.
Accused arrested and traced through OSINT
The police arrested the first accused, Yashraj Yadav alias Pappu, 50, on January 28, and the second accused, Mohammad Taufiq Shaikh, 39, on February 4. Both are accused of defrauding the American national of Rs 18,000 for a taxi ride of barely 400 metres.
Using the OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) platform, police traced the vehicle’s registration to Sharad Patil of SMS Taxi Cab Pvt. Ltd. Patil informed them that the cab had been assigned to another individual. Meanwhile, police officers showed photographs from the social media post to airport staff and drivers, leading to the identification of the suspect as Yadav.
A police officer said that three similar cases had previously been registered against Mohammad, two at Sahar Police Station and one at Airport Police Station. In each case, his accomplice was different. However, no prior criminal record was found against Yadav.
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Incident occurred after midnight arrival
According to the police, Ariano had arrived in India for work. The incident occurred on January 12 at around midnight after she landed at Mumbai International Airport.
The accused allegedly took her on a 20-minute drive around Andheri (East) before returning to the same locality, dropping her at the hotel and collecting the fare.
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