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An Uber Driver Was Shot And Killed Over An Argument By His Passengers Aged 16 And 17

The boys then dumped the driver's body and the cab at different locations.

Cover image via The Hindu

In an incident that happened in South West Delhi, India on 7 April, an Uber driver was shot dead over an argument by two passengers

The Uber driver.

Image via Hindustan Times

After the murder, the suspects, aged 16 and 17, dumped the victim's body in a paddy field and drove his Swift Dzire car to another location where they abandoned it after removing its number plates

The murdered Uber driver's car after the suspects dumped it in another location and removed the number plates.

Image via The Hindu

The Uber driver, identified as 51-year-old Kuldeep Thakur, was shot in the head and chest. A native of Himachal Pradesh, he lived in Delhi with his wife and 3 children. Kuldip was the sole breadwinner of the family and his eldest daughter's marriage is on the cards.

He was charting out the future for this family with an eye on retirement a couple of years from now. Kuldeep Thakur, the Uber cabbie who was shot dead by two teenagers, was preparing to get his elder daughter married off later this year and encouraging his 18-year-old son to prepare for his engineering entrance examination.

But fate intervened in a cruel manner for the man who had shifted to Delhi from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh 30 years ago. Thakur's family now suddenly finds itself in uncertainty, for he was the only earning member in the family of five.

Relatives say that Thakur had been a cab driver all his life, but wanted his children to be successful entrepreneurs. "He just wanted to save enough money so he could invest it in the future of his children," said Arun Singh, the cabbie's nephew.

indiatimes.com

According to Times Of India, the Uber cab was mid-way when an argument ensued between the boys and the driver after the driver objected to moving aimlessly for more than an hour-and-a-half

The boys, both class IX dropouts, allegedly shot the Uber driver using the pistol they were carrying that belonged to one of the boys' father. According to investigators, reported HT, the revolver used in the crime belonged to the 16-year-old's father who himself is a local criminal. The father is on the run and police haven’t found the revolver.

There was no previous criminal record for either of the boys.

The Delhi police, reported HuffPost India, has arrested both the boys and a case of murder has been registered against them

Meanwhile close home, a Muslim consumer group claims that taxi drivers may resort to robbing others thanks to the rising popularity of ride-sharing services like Uber and GrabCar:

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