Delhi: Two Uber drivers choked to death within hours, 2 held

New Delhi, Jan 8 (IANS) Delhi Police have arrested two persons for killing two Uber drivers within a span of few hours, an official said here on Saturday.

The accused have been identified as Akku alias Aakash and Junaid, both residents of Anand Parbat.

According to the official, at around 8:45 a.m. on January 7, a police patrol vehicle noticed an Uber taxi parked on the roadside near the Ramjas ground with a man lying unconscious inside it. The person was immediately shifted to RML Hospital where he was declared brought dead. No apparent injury was visible, but blood was seen coming out of the victim's mouth.

The identity of the deceased was revealed as Anil Yadav, 48, a resident of south-west Delhi. The mobile phone and wallet of the deceased were found missing and the manner of death seemed to be suspicious.

Thereafter, the wife of the deceased was informed and she said that her husband had left the house around 6:30 am for work.

Based on all these details, an FIR under Sections 302 and 34 was registered and the probe was taken up.

During the course of investigation, it was revealed that the body of another Uber driver, namely Chavvi Nath, a resident of Noida, was also found in the north-west area of the city with similar signs.

After this, the police started examining the CCTV footage of the area. After obtaining the passenger list from Uber, two suspects were nabbed from the area near the Railway Line, Zakhira flyover.

During interrogation, the accused persons revealed that they hatched a conspiracy to book cabs and rob the drivers along with their friend Pritam. The accused disclosed that on the intervening night of January 6-7, at around 1 a.m, they boarded a cab and after travelling some distance, they strangulated the cab driver from behind and choked him to death.

At around 6.45 a.m., the accused booked another cab and killed the driver.

"Efforts are on to nab Pritam," the official added.