NEW DELHI: The image of radio taxis as a safe commute option took a beating when a cab driver allegedly raped a bartender in the early hours of Tuesday while dropping her home from Gurgaon’s Sahara Mall, where the 22-year-old worked in a bar.

The alleged rape took place in a Mehrauli farmhouse , where the driver took the victim. A medical examination of the girl at AIIMS has confirmed she was raped. The accused, Shiv Kumar Yadav (30), a resident of Devli in Khanpur, was arrested after raids across Delhi and Gurgaon.

Police said the victim hailed the cab, belonging to Omex radio taxi service, around 3am for returning home to Vasant Kunj area of south Delhi. On the way, the driver tried to strike up a friendship and even asked her to sit on the front seat. The alleged rape of a bartender by a cab driver at a Mehrauli farmhouse was confirmed after a medical examination at AIIMS. “Shiv drove to a Mehrauli farmhouse, forced the victim inside and raped her around 3.30am. After threatening her, he offered to drop her wherever she wanted to go. When the cab crossed a police picket near Kishangarh on Aruna Asaf Ali Marg around 4.30 am, the woman managed to stop the car and rushed out to the cops even as the driver sped off,” a police officer said. The woman initially told the cops that the driver had snatched her gold chain. “A PCR gave the cab a chase till Saket but he managed to escape. It was then that the woman told us about the alleged rape,” the officer said.DCP (south) Chhaya Sharma said the policemen on duty managed to note the registration number of the cab which was sent to the radio cab office. The company gave the driver’s name and address. He was arrested from his residence on Tuesday morning.However, sources in the south district police contradicted the official version, saying the victim was raped inside the cab, which the driver had parked at a secluded spot in Chattarpur. These sources said the driver pushed the victim out of the car when they approached the police picket. All cabs near the mall were tracked and finally the police zeroed in on the accused. The victim had come to Delhi from Kishangarh in UP about a year ago in search of a job. She earlier lived in Jahangirpuri in north Delhi and then in Munirka in the south before shifting to her present accommodation.The Sahara Mall, where the woman worked in a bar, was earlier in the news about six months ago when four women returning from the mall were waylaid near the Arjangarh Metro station. The presence of mind of a radio cab driver and quick police action had thwarted an abduction by occupants of an SUV. The next night, a cab driver doing duty near the mall was found murdered.