Uber is trying to trivialise the horrific case of sexual assault, says arch rival Ola

Ola, India's largest ride-hailing app and global leader Uber’s arch rival in one of its most crucial markets, has accused the San Francisco-based company for attempting to trivialise a horrific crime.

As reported earlier, Uber has fired Eric Alexander, one of its top executives for having allegedly accessed the confidential medical records of a girl who was raped by an Uber India driver in December 2014.

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As per the report from American technology-focused portal Recode, Alexander accessed the records and showed it CEO Travis Kalanick and SVP Emil Michael, with a theory that the incident reported by the victim was untrue, and was planned by competitor Ola.

Alexander is also reported to have kept a set of the medical documents with him for about a year and then destroyed.

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"If this report were to be even remotely true, this is an all-time low on morality and a reflection of the very character of an organisation," an Ola representative wrote in response to queries raised by ET.

"It is a shame that the privacy and morals of a woman have to be questioned in an attempt to trivialise a horrific crime. It is despicable that anyone can even conceive an attempt to malign competition using this as an opportunity," said the statement from Ola.

The case in question dates back to November 2016, when Shiv Kumar Yadav, a driver working with Uber India was sentenced to life imprisonment. The case had forced cab-aggregator companies to tighten the process of verification for their drivers.

As per data shared by industry analysts, Uber has about 4,00,000 drivers in 29 Indian cities, while in comparison, Ola has about 5,50,000 drivers plying in 110 cities.

Also read: Ola made fake accounts and did false bookings to disrupt business, alleges Uber

The ongoing investigations in Uber, undertaken because of allegations of sexual abuse and mismanagement in what is world’s biggest start-up, about 20 employees have been fired while at least 100 others are being currently investigated.