Mumbai: Sahar police arrested 50-year-old cab driver Deshraj Yadav for allegedly fleecing a US national woman of 200 USD (Rs 18,000) for a 400-metre drive to a hotel, after tracking him using an investigation OSINT tool (an investigation platform for unmatched accuracy amd real-time data).During questioning, Yadav confessed that he, along with his accomplice Toufique Shaikh, first took the woman to a wrong hotel after riding for 20 minutes, before leaving her to her original destination. Police were searching for Shaikh, who hails from Kurla locality and was described as Yadav’s partner in the crime.The duo were booked on Jan 28 after the foreign national posted the fraud on X (formerly Twitter) on Jan 26. Police said the team first managed to locate the guest itinerary from the hotel and found out the US national had checked in on Jan 12 and left the next day but did not complain about the same to the hotel staff. “The duo planned the offence on seeing the foreign tourist and decided to overcharge by taking her for a ride before leaving her to her destination,” said a police officer of the Sahar police station.The officer said the accused approached the tourist and told that he can provide taxi service. “Yadav called his friend Shaikh alerting that they overcharge the tourist and asked him to join to take her to the hotel. The accused, along with his accomplice, drove for 20 minute in Andheri (E) and dropped her to a wrong hotel. When the woman informed they had dropped her to a wrong hotel, the accused told it will cost 200 USD to travel to the hotel where she has a booking, to which she agreed,” said the officer.The US national, Argentina Ariano had tweeted on the Mumbai Police’s X (formerly Twitter) social media handle, along with photos of two individuals, stating that, “Landed in Mumbai recently and took a taxi to @HiltonHotel. The driver and another guy took us to an unknown location first, charged us $200 (Rs 18,000) and then dropped us at the hotel which was only 400m away. Taxi no. MH 01 BD 5405 #Taxidriver #mumbai #RepublicDay2026 #india”.“Police said the team, upon seeing this tweet on the X, immediately checked vehicle number MH 01 BD 5405 using the OSINT TOOL to search for the driver and the person accompanying him. “The search revealed that the said vehicle belongs to an individual named Sharad Patil, SMS Taxi Cab Pvt. Ltd. It was found to be registered in his name. Patil informed that he had given the vehicle bearing number MH 01 BD 5405 to a person named Gandkar Appa who said he will check and provide details who was driving the cab on Jan 12.“Meanwhile, police said the team then showed the photos of the two individuals seen in the tweet to the security guards and taxi drivers at the airport and learned that one of the person was a taxi driver named Pappu Yadav. Subsequently, a search was conducted for Yadav in the airport area, and was found and taken into custody. Upon questioning regarding the incident, he confessed to the crime.
