On Wednesday, a Bangalore-based beauty blogger Hitesha Chandrane accused her Zomato delivery boy of punching her nose after a heated argument over delayed order. She took it to her Instagram and shared a video of her ordeal. Zomato, as well issued an apology to the blogger saying that ‘this is not the experience that their delivery universe stands for.’
After the video went viral, the delivery boy Kamaraj, who is suspended by Zomato as of now, put forth his side of the story on social media. In a conversation with a leading daily, he refuted the claims of barging into her house and denied punching allegations made by the beauty blogger. On the contrary to this, he mentioned that it was he who threw slippers at him and hurled him abuses in Hindi.
“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),” Kamaraj tells TNM, “I also apologized 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,” he said.
Kamraj stated that Hitesha took the food and refused to pay him for the order. She was in talks with Zomato chat support and fearing for his job, he pleaded to the blogger to pay him only to be called a ‘slave’ by the latter. At this point, she called me a ‘slave’ and then she started shouting ‘What can you do?’ In the meantime, Zomato support told me that they have cancelled the order from their end based on her request and I asked her to return the food but she did not cooperate,” he added.
Clarifying about the punching bit, Kamaraj said it was Hitesha who started hitting him first and as he tried to block her in self-defense, she hit her own nose with her ring. “At this point, when I was walking towards the lift, she started using expletives in Hindi. She suddenly threw slippers at me and started hitting me. For my safety, when she was hitting me, I tried to use my hand to shield her blows. At this point, when she was trying to push my hand away, she accidentally hit herself with her finger ring on the nose, which led to the bleeding. Anybody who sees her face will understand that this wouldn't be created by a punch. And I don’t wear any rings,” he says. Hitesha, in her Instagram video, is seen wearing a ring.
Hitesha did not allow him to use the lift so he had to run using the stairs, claims Kamaraj. “Then the Zomato support system person in Delhi also supported me and offered me empathy after I narrated the ordeal that I had to go through. The problem is there is no CCTV footage to prove my innocence,” he said. Around 6.30 p.m on Wednesday, he was called by Electronic City Phase 1 Police Station where he was questioned for two hours. “The police did not disrespect me in any way. But now I have to spend Rs 25,000 for legal expenses to prevent my arrest,” he concluded.
Every coin has two sides. Now that both sides are out in the open, what’s your take on this?
(Source-TNM, Instagram@The Curly Poet)
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