Former Sikh Uber driver charged for sexual assault of passenger in Edmonton

 

Former Uber driver charged with sexually assaulting passenger in Edmonton

By Karen Bartko  Global News

Posted September 11, 2025 2:53 pm

 1 min read

A former Uber driver has been charged with sexual assault after an incident last summer in Edmonton.

The Edmonton Police Service said the assault happened around 2 a.m. on Sun. June 30, 2024, after a woman ordered an Uber in the downtown area.

A dark grey 2023 Nissan Rogue SUV picked her up near 109 Street and 101 Avenue.

During the trip, police allege the man driving the SUV stopped the vehicle and sexually assaulted the woman.

It’s not known when the victim came forward, however, on Aug. 30, 2025, a suspect was arrested and charged.

“Following a thorough investigation, we were able to successfully arrest and charge (a) suspect,” said Const. Mughees Jutt with the EPS’ southwest branch.

“We unfortunately believe that there are others who have been impacted by this individual and we would like them to come forward so we can investigate and provide them with appropriate supports.”

Due to the nature of the sexual assault, investigators believe there may be additional complainants and are asking anyone who may have experienced a similar incident to come forward.

Gurvinder Pannu, 32, is charged with sexual assault. He was released under conditions including not working for a ride sharing or taxi service, not having direct or indirect contact with the female complainant and not possessing weapons, including knives and firearms.

Anyone who believes they may have been victimized by the accused is asked to contact the Edmonton Police Service at 780-423-4567 or #377 from a mobile phone.

Anonymous information can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.

Uber - "Ya Pays Your Dues; Ya Takes Your Chances"

Uber confirms 175 sexual assault claims against drivers amid accusations of thousands

Uber rejected Buzzfeed's offer to examine their ticketing system. © Robert Galbraith / Reuters

The multi-billion-dollar company Uber revealed they received 175 complaints of sexual assault, including five accusations of rape, between December 2012 and August 2015.

And if you believe that, I have a tropical island in Labrador for sale.

The disclosure comes only after information about the sexual assaults was leaked about the service’s drivers. The company claims the data is misleading.

Uber minimized the attacks of those 175 claimants with numbers, saying that “five tickets that allege an actual rape occurred (0.0000009% of rides in the three years from December 2012 to August 2015) and 170 tickets with a legitimate claim of sexual assault (1 in every 3.3 million trips).”

This is after Buzzfeed published an article claiming that Uber had 5,827 tickets logged relating to accusations of rape and 6,160 for sexual assault.

The figures were obtained by a keyword search on the Uber customer support ticketing system, and leaked to Buzzfeed by an Uber customer service representative.

Uber claim the disparity in figures is due to several factors, including the open-endedness of the keyword search, which would return words that begin with the word “rape” such as such as surnames like “Rapelli,” as well as individual entries for it.

Uses of the word rape such as “you raped my wallet” were also credited with the disparity, but no figures were published on how often the word was used in such a context.

"When serious incidents are reported to us, we always reach out to the person who filed the report and, where appropriate, engage with law enforcement," Uber said in a statement, which failed to include anything about the well-being of the possible victims, or specific engagements with police in regards to the 175 claims.

The statement’s co-authors, Chief Safety Officer Joe Sullivan, Communications & Public Policy VP Jill Hazelbaker, and Global Support VP Tim Collins, did spent a lot of time talking about their company and defending the “privacy” of their ticketing system.

It would be “unfair to suggest that you cannot trust the veracity of the numbers Uber has provided without personally verifying them, which would be a serious breach of our riders’ and drivers’ privacy,” Uber said.

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon previously claimed the company was misleading users about the safety of their background checks.

Convicted sex offenders, murderers, etc., etc.

"We have drivers who are convicted sex offenders, identity thieves, burglars, kidnappers, and a convicted murderer, and this is just in LA alone." Gascon said.

The company’s executives admitted they “haven’t always gotten things right”, but deflected criticism about Uber’s record by saying that “no means of transportation is 100 percent safe today”.

And apparently, there's a 0.0000009% chance of being raped by your Uber driver.