Uber India’s first women driver found dead in Bengaluru

The case came to the Bengaluru police on June 27 evening when the landlord of the house found her body hanging in her flat.

Considered one of the city’s first woman cab drivers, 40-year-old Bharati Veerath was found dead at her residence here, police said on Tuesday.

Bharathi Veerath’s landlord found her body hanging and alerted the police on Monday. She moved to Bangaluru in 2005, where she first worked as a tailor, then at a travel agency, before finding employment at a non-governmental organization, where she learned how to drive.

The police have registered a case of unnatural death and started an investigation.

While a case of suicide is suspected, no note was left behind by the victim.

Hailing from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, Bharathi was staying alone in the house as she was single and orphaned.

Shankar said he found Bharathi’s cab abandoned since Sunday but couldn’t trace her presence. It was only after he rushed to her house that he found her hanging inside.

When contacted, Uber officials said Bharathi was a hard worker and a role model for other women to lead an independent life.

Asked whether there were any visitors for her in the recent past, Shankar said he had not seen anyone. The aggregator’s first woman driver, Bharathi, who had always dreamt of owning a auto, went on raise a loan to purchase a sedan. She was an inspiration to many driver partners and riders. “Since then, she has been staying alone and there were no visitors for her in the recent past”, he said. According to sources, Bharathi planned to return to her hometown and had told her employer she would stop working.

Five years ago, Bharathi used to work with Sangama, a Bengaluru NGO that works with sexual minorities.