Uber Cab Driver Alleges Attack in Prison Van

New Delhi, Jan 20 (IANS) The Uber cab driver accused of rape alleged in a court here Tuesday that he was threatened and attacked in a prison van.

Accused Shiv Kumar Yadav's counsel Alok Dwivedi moved a plea alleging that the driver was threatened and attacked in the prison van by fellow inmates while he was being taken back to jail after the Jan 17 court proceedings.

Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja asked the lock-up in-charge for a report on the allegations.

Yadav had earlier made a similar complaint to the court, which had directed the Delhi Police and Tihar jail authorities to ensure his security and provide him a separate enclosure in the prison van.

Meanwhile, the court recorded the statements of two Delhi Police officers - a constable and an official of the malkhana (where evidence related to cases is stored) - and a nodal officer of Vodafone.

Testifying as a prosecution witness, constable Arvind told the court that on Dec 12, 2014, he had deposited the mobile phone recovered from Yadav at the time of his arrest withthe Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) office for forensic tests.

The malkhana official said he had deposited in the malkhana several sealed articles as part of case property, including a parcel and the car driven by the Uber driver.

The Vodafone official brought the records of the mobile number used by the cab driver.

The statements of three people, including a doctor who had first examined the woman, will be recorded Wednesday.

Yadav, 32, allegedly raped a woman executive in the cab she hired to head back home in north Delhi's Inderlok area Dec 5 last year.

The court last week framed charges of rape and causing grievous bodily harm or endangering the life of a woman, kidnapping a woman, criminal intimidation and voluntarily causing hurt under various sections of the Indian Penal Code against Yadav.

The trial is being conducted on a day-to-day basis.