Uber sues Indian rival Ola over 'fake accounts'

Indian drivers for Uber show mobiles phones given to them by the company

Uber is suing Indian rival Ola, alleging it created more than 90,000 fake accounts to interfere with its business and frustrate its drivers.

The US company claims the fake accounts were used to make over 400,000 false bookings that ended up cancelled.

It filed a lawsuit in the High Court of Delhi this month requesting an injunction against Ola and $7.4m (£5.2m) in damages.

OlaCabs has denied the accusations, calling them "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.

Uber, considered the world's most valuable start-up, refused to comment beyond their legal petition.

The battle for India's transport market has heated up in recent months, with Uber investing $1bn over the past nine months.

Ola, which is backed by Japan's SoftBank Group and hedge fund Tiger Global Management, is part of an alliance aimed at trying to reduce Uber's market dominance.

The other members include San Francisco's Lyft, Southeast Asian rival Grab and China's Didi Kuaidi.

A hearing on Uber's Indian petition has been set for 14 September.