The Electronics City police on Wednesday arrested a 35-year-old food delivery executive with Zomato for allegedly punching a customer and fracturing her nose after the two got into an argument.
The complainant, Hitesha Chandranee, a make-up artist, posted a video online describing the alleged attack, which occurred on March 9. It showed a deep gash on her nose. She filed a complaint with the police, who arrested the accused, Kamaraj. “He has been charged for causing grievous hurt and intentional insult, and remanded in judicial custody,” said the police officer.
In the video, Ms. Chandranee said she had ordered food around 3.30 p.m. and the delivery was expected within an hour. When the food did not arrive, she called the firm’s customer care number to lodge a complaint seeking a free delivery or cancellation of the order. When she was on the phone, she said the accused landed at her door. An altercation broke out as she said she was speaking to the customer care centre to cancel the order even as the delivery partner took objection to being made to wait.
Ms. Chandranee alleged that the delivery partner pushed the door open, barged into the house, placed the order on her table, punched her in the face and ran out.
In his statement, Kamaraj told the police that the customer was rude and verbally abused him. “He said she refused to pay for the order and was not listening to him. He got angry when she made him wait while she was on a call with the customer care centre. He claimed that he had other deliveries to make, and punched her during the argument,” the officer added.
After the video went viral on social media, the company apologised, saying it had delisted the delivery partner.
“We deeply regret this incident and apologise to Hitesha for this traumatic experience. We are in touch with her and are providing our complete support through the necessary medical care and investigation. Meanwhile, we have delisted the delivery partner from our platform,” said a spokesperson of Zomato.
