Bharathi Veerath, Bengaluru's first woman cab driver, has died in an apparent case of suicide. The 39-year-old was found dead in her third floor rented house on Monday, where she had apparently hanged herself.
The incident was reported in Nagashetty Halli in Bengaluru, after Bharathi's landlord found her cab "abandoned", but could not locate Bharathi anywhere. He reportedly rushed to her house and saw her body hanging. The local police found Bharathi's front door shut tight but unlocked. They could not find a suicide letter.
Investigation has found that Bharathi was living alone and wanted to move back to her hometown in Ongole in Andhra Pradesh. She had even informed her landlord about moving her gas connection there and quit her job. Bharathi had reportedly moved to Bengaluru 10 years ago and worked as a tailor and then with an NGO where she learnt how to drive. Later, she joined private taxi aggregator company Uber, where she was the city's first woman cab driver.
She had made headlines two years ago after she joined Uber, and in March 2014 driven around Biocon Limited boss Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.
