Charged with kidnapping a woman passenger, an Indian-American taxi driver was arrested on Tuesday.
24-year old Harbir Parmar of New York was charged with kidnapping and wire fraud by the White Plains Federal Court, Southern District Officials of NY said on Tuesday.
According to the complaint filed by the FBI, a woman on February 21 from White Plains called for an Uber in Manhattan to drop her home.
Around 11:30 pm, Parmar picked up the woman and after a while, she fell asleep.
When the woman woke up, Parmar had joined the woman in the backseat with his hand on her shirt, while the vehicle was parked on the roadside.
The women when tried to reach for her phone to call for help, Parmar snatched her phone and denied to give it back.
After that Parmar went back to the driver’s seat and around 1:45 am, dropped her off along a highway in Connecticut, as per the complaint.
Also, Parmar is accused of changing the route to Boston in the app, according to the complaint.
From the day forward, she saw that she had been charged $1,047.55 for the drive.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said, “As alleged, Harbir Parmar was hired to drive a woman from Manhattan to her home in White Plains. Instead, Parmar kidnapped, terrorized and assaulted the woman before dumping her on the side of an interstate.”
If convicted, Parmar would face charges of kidnapping and 20 years for the fraud.
The ride-sharing cab, Uber added that the woman’s fare was refunded within days.
When asked to comment on the matter, a lawyer for Parmar, Susanne Brody didn’t respond.
