Uber fires top executive who got medical records of Indian rape victim, says report

A top Uber executive obtained the confidential medical records of a woman who was allegedly assaulted and raped during a ride in Delhi in 2014, according to a report on Recode.

The report says Eric Alexander, who was the president of business for Uber in Asia Pacific, showed the medical records to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and other senior executives during the rape investigation.

Tech in Asia reached out to Uber India, whose spokesperson said Alexander is no longer with the company, but did not offer any other comment on this.

It is a shame that the morals of a woman have to be questioned in an attempt to trivialize a horrific crime.

Uber had earlier denied to Recode that he was among the 20 employees fired in relation to an ongoing probe into allegations of sexual harassment at the workplace.

However, it was in the course of this investigation into mismanagement at Uber that Alexander’s handling of the situation in India came up. Sources told Recode that after Alexander showed the rape victim’s medical records to Kalanick and senior VP Emil Michael, “all three began to raise the prospect that Ola – Uber’s main competitor in India – was behind the incident to sabotage the company.”

Ola has issued a statement in reaction to this report:

“It is a shame that the privacy and morals of a woman have to be questioned in an attempt to trivialize a horrific crime. It is despicable that anyone can even conceive an attempt to malign competition using this as an opportunity. If this report were to be even remotely true, this is an all-time low on morality and a reflection of the very character of an organization.”

The Uber board held a meeting on Sunday to discuss investigations into the company. Senior VP Emil Michael – said to have been Travis Kalanick’s closest confidante – resigned after the board meeting. And Kalanick is debating whether to take a leave of absence until the dust settles.

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Series of Uber ‘misdemeanors’

Uber driver Shiv Kumar Yadav, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a woman passenger in Delhi in December, 2014.

Uber came under intense scrutiny in India following the charges of rape filed against a driver with a criminal background, who was sentenced to life imprisonment nearly a year after the incident. The victim, who was a visitor to India, later filed a lawsuit against Uber in the US, on the charge of failing to fulfill basic safety requirements. The lawsuit was later withdrawn, but the terms of the settlement were not disclosed.