Sabotage! Uber accuses rival of booking 400,000 fake rides

uber india

Uber has accused rival taxi-hailing firm Ola Cabs of using a coordinated sabotage campaign to disrupt its operations in India.

In a complaint filed on March 14 in Delhi's High Court, Uber alleged that Ola and its employees used 93,000 fraudulent accounts to book more than 400,000 fake rides over a seven-month period.

Uber said that as a result of the fake bookings, it has suffered damage to its "business, earnings and goodwill." It claimed that more than 23,000 of its drivers have quit as a result.

Uber also accused Ola employees of impersonating Uber managers and sending misleading text messages to its drivers.

Uber is seeking $7.5 million in damages. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for September.

Ola denied the allegations, describing them as "frivolous and false."

"It is not beyond our imagination that this is an effort to divert attention from the current realities of the market where Uber has faced major setbacks," the company said in a statement.

Ola has separately accused Uber of operating diesel cars in New Delhi in violation of a court order.

Related: Wheels come off Uber's motorcycle experiment in India

Uber and Ola are competing fiercely to capture market share in the major cities around India. Uber announced in July 2015 that it would invest $1 billion in the country, a sign that it views India as a key growth market.

The suit is something of an ironic twist for Uber, which was previously accused of booking fake rides.

In 2014, U.S.-based Uber rival Lyft accused the company's employees of ordering and canceling more than 5,000 trips.

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