A woman has alleged that an app cab driver molested her on Sunday night when she asked him to switch on the car’s AC after finding it difficult to breathe.

The driver was arrested based on a complaint she lodged with Garfa police station.

The driver, Raj Shaw, 23, has been booked for outraging a woman’s modesty and criminal intimidation.

A court on Monday remanded him in judicial custody for two days. The police said the driver has claimed that he works for Uber.

The woman in her mid-30s was returning home to Selimpur with her husband from her parent’s home in Behala on Sunday night when the alleged offence took place, police said.

A Uber spokesperson told Metro on Monday night: “This is a regrettable incident. Safety of all our riders and driver-partners is paramount. We are investigating the matter and stand ready to assist the law enforcement authorities in any way possible.”

The couple had booked the cab in Taratala and immediately after boarding the cab, the woman asked the driver to switch on the AC. The driver did not turn it on and after about a kilometre, the couple asked the driver why he hadn’t switched on the AC, the police said.

The driver apparently refused to switch on the AC.

The woman insisted on the AC because she suffers from asthma, she said in her complaint to the police. It was getting difficult to breathe inside the cab, she told the police.

The woman said an argument broke out between them and the driver. The driver apparently told them it was “quite cool” outside and that there was no need for the AC.

As the couple insisted he switch on the AC, the driver said there was no such rule that said he had to meet a passenger’s unjust demands.

When the couple said they would call on the app cab company’s helpline to find out if it was so, the driver dialled the number from his phone.

“The couple said the driver was told on the phone that he had to switch on the AC if a passenger demanded so and in this case, in the mode should be ‘fresh air’,” an officer of Garfa police station said. “She alleged that the driver still refused to switch on the AC.”

The driver took out his phone and kept taking their pictures in the “video mode” every time he stopped at a traffic signal, she alleged in her complaint with the police.

The driver apparently stopped the car on Prince Anwar Shah Road near Jadavpur police station and slapped the woman as her husband protested. He then called some youths of the area and a few of his fellow drivers and threatened to thrash the couple.

It was around 10pm and there weren’t too many people on the road.

“The couple spotted a traffic sergeant on a bike. They stopped him and narrated their plight. The officer advised them to file a complaint at Garfa police station,” an officer said.