Continued from page u0010 u000f SPEAKING to mid- day, Gaur said, u201c I am a part- time Uber driver and I usually drive in the evenings. I got the booking at Silver Beach around u0090 u009d . u0090 u00a0 pm and picked up Sarkar from there. I was driving towards Kurla when he started talking on the phone and discussing something related to the ongoing Shaheen Bagh protest. So, initially, I thought he was returning from one such protest, but wasnu2019t suspicious of the way he was dressed.u201d u201c I heard him saying over phone that he had composed several poems and women were liking them a lot. He said, u2018 We should target the female audience and form something like Shaheen Bagh in Mumbaiu2019. Later, he told the caller that u2018 nahi bhai, Mumbai police are too strict unlike the cops in other statesu2019. He had plans to go to Nagpur, Shaheen Bagh and . aipur,u201d added Gaur.
u201c But I was shocked when he said, u2018 ab to desh jalne hi wala haiu2019. That is when I decided to record the conversation on my phone.
Then I stopped my cab near the Santacruz police station and stepped down on the pretext of withdrawing cash from an ATM. It was around u0090 u009d . . u009d pm then. I went inside the police station and informed the officers. They immediately came out and took Sarkar inside. While speaking to me, once he addressed himself as a Communist,u201d the driver said.
The cops recorded Gauru2019s statement and questioned Sarkar till . am. The driver further said, u201c When I asked him, bhai kis cheez se aazadi chahiye tumko, he replied, u2018 iss government se aazadi chahiyeu2019.u201d u201c I have handed over the recording of Sarkaru2019s phone conversation to the ATC at Santacruz police station. After recording my statement, they took my signature and contact number and allowed me to go,u201d he added. u201c My grandfather was in the Indian Army and my cousin is a serving officer in the Special Protection Group. How can I tolerate it if someone is trying to burn my country? It was my Cops hail driver for reporting anti- CAA poet Rohit Singh. PIC/ DIWAKAR SHARMA mid- dayu2019s report on February 7 responsibility to alert the cops and Iu2019m happy that I did it for my nation. After the incident went viral on social media, Uber suspended my ID for . . to . . hours because of the ongoing investigation.
However, the police have appreciated my prompt effort to alert them,u201d said Gaur, adding, u201c I did my job as an alert citizen of the country but people have made a mountain out of a molehill over the issue,u201d he added.
Meanwhile, an officer attached to the Santacruz police station, said, u201c Nothing suspicious has been found in the audio recording. So, we allowed Sarkar to go, and have thanked the driver for doing whatever he felt was the best at that time.u201d u201c He ( Gaur) knew that he might be asked to do rounds of a court if a case was registered against Sarkar. He is brave and an alert citizen of the country.
There is nothing wrong to inform the police if people find something suspicious as we continue to get such calls at the police control room,u201d the officer added.
u2018 How can I tolerate it if someone is trying to burn my country? It was my responsibility to alert the cops and Iu2019m happy that I did it for my nationu2019 Rohit Singh Gaur, Uber driver
