Hitesha Chanranee, a beauty blogger from Bengaluru, on Wednesday, alleged that a Zomato delivery executive had punched her and left her bleeding while she was talking to Zomato customer care agent about late food delivery issue. She posted the video on Instagram and the accused was arrested by Electronic city police on Wednesday.
However, the accused, identified as Kamraj, 29, a resident of Chennakeshava Nagar, has come out with his side of the story. Speaking to the News Minute, Kamraj claimed that Hitesha was the one to blame as she had verbally abused him and assaulted him with a slipper. He also alleged that the woman hit herself on the nose, causing her to bleed.
Kamraj, who is under temporary suspension from Zomato, told The News Minute, “After I reached her apartment door, I handed her the food and I was expecting her to pay me (as she had opted for cash on delivery mode of payment), I also apologised since the delivery was delayed due to traffic and bad roads. But she was very rude from the outset. She asked me ‘Why are you late?’ I replied apologetically, as there were road blocks due to ongoing civic works and there were traffic jams as well. But she kept on insisting that the order has to be delivered within 45-50 minutes. I am working on this job for more than two years and this is the first time that I have had to go through this kind of an ordeal.”
According to The News Minute report, Kamraj alleged that Hitesha refused to pay for the food and when he was told by Zomato officials that they had cancelled her order based on her request, she refused to return the order also. When he decided to leave the premises without the food, she started hurling verbal abuse and hit him with a slipper.
Zomata founder Deepinder Goyal took to Twitter and said that the company's 'topmost' priority is to get to the truth and they assisting both sides – Hitesha and Kamraj till the investigation is pending.
Goyal also noted that Kamaraj has been working for them for more than 2 years and has made 5,000 deliveries for the restaurant's aggregator.
"Also, for the record - Kamaraj has made (approximately) 5,000 deliveries for us so far, and has a 4.75/5 star rating on our platform (which is one of the highest), and has been working with us for 26 months now. (These are facts, not opinions, or inferences)," Goyal tweeted.
Kamraj has been booked under IPC section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and was later released on the bail. The Bengaluru Police is investigating the matter.