Staff Reporter :
The biker of the motorcycle, on which BRAC University student Fahmida Haque Labanya was pillion riding before her death, had provided false information while registering with Uber.
Labanya died after the covered van ran over her in the capital’s Shyamoli area, Police said.
“The motorcyclist Sumon Hossain used a fake address to register with Uber. The address in his National Identity (NID) and bKash account are fake too,” Biplop Kumar Sarkar, Deputy Commissioner of Tejgaon Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) told the media in his office in the city’s College Gate area on Sunday.
He said that the Uber rider was also culpable for his bike’s high speed and information concealing.
“The Uber registered rider was driving recklessly. The driver behind (the covered van driver) was similarly reckless. The vehicles collided when the covered van tried to overtake the motorcycle at a high speed. Labanya was flung from the bike as a result before being trampled by the van,” the DC said.
He said that the company’s authorities cannot evade liability for registering Sumon as a rider without verifying his address, adding, “Legal action will be taken against those found to be at fault after the investigation.”
Md Ali Armanur Rahma, Senior Manager of Uber in Bangladesh, attended the briefing. But he did not answer questions relating to the company’s failure to cooperate with police.
“The accident is painful. We must work to avoid these kinds of incidents,” he said without adding anything further.
In the meantime, a Dhaka metro court remanded the bike driver Sumon Hossain and covered van driver Anisur Rahman when Sher-e-Banglanagar Police Station’s Sub-Inspector (SI) Nurul Islam produced them in the court with seven-day remand plea for each.
After the hearing, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Baki Billah passed the order of two days and four days remand for each respectively, said Yousuf Ali Khan, General Registration Officer (GRO) of the police station.
Earlier Police arrested the covered van driver Anisur Rahman from Ashulia on Saturday while Sumon from the city’s Mohamadpur on Friday.
Labanya, a third year student of the Computer Science and Engineering Department of BRAC University, was travelling to her university from her Shyamoli home using the Uber Moto service. The accident occurred in front of the National Heart Institute in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar when a covered van rammed the motorcycle from behind.
Labonya fell from the motorcycle from the impact before being run over by the covered van.
She was rushed to the Shahid Suhrwardy Medical College Hospital where doctors on duty declared her dead.
