Zomato Assault Case: Beauty Influencer Denies Hitting Delivery Boy

Beauty influencer Hitesha Chandranee denies hitting delivery man: The beauty influencer from Bengaluru at centre of the Zomato assault case has denied the claims made by a delivery man that she hit him. Chandranee had posted videos on social media alleging that a Zomato delivery man had punched her in her face after she complained about her order being late. The delivery man had however said that it was Chandranee who had physically and verbally assaulted him. Chandranee has now gone on record to deny the allegations.

Recalling her version of the alleged assault, Chandranee told NDTV that her delivery was to arrive in 59 minutes that day but it didn't. "I was telling them - stop bluffing, we use our hard-earned money. I had full right to fight with customer support when I am paying. I kept saying either cancel my order or do me a favour by making it free."

She claimed that after the delivery man, Kamaraj, arrived and she asked him whether Zomato had told him anything about cancelling the order or waiving the charge, he began talking rudely and eventually shouted at her. She further alleged that when she tried to close the door, Kamaraj pushed against it, grabbed the parcel and left.

"I told him you can't do this. Then he punched me. It happened within two minutes. I couldn't understand what was happening. He ran to the lift...I didn't know my nose was bleeding. When I gathered myself, I went after him and stopped him. He hit me again and, as the lift wouldn't shut, pushed me and ran down the stairs," added Chandranee.

In his interview after the arrest, Kamaraj alleged that Chandranee had hit him with slippers and abused him in Hindi. According to him, the beauty influencer incurred the injury on her nose after accidentally hitting herself with the ring that she was wearing on one of her fingers.

Responding to this statement, Hitesha Chandranee said, "I never hit him with slippers. When he ran, for my own defence I did it. What if he had done worse?"

Meanwhile, Zomato CEO and founder Deepinder Goyal released a statement on the incident today, revealing that the company is providing support to both parties in the case. "We are in constant touch with Hitesha” assuring her medical expenses are covered, and “helping her with the proceeding," read Goyal's statement, adding, "We are also in touch with Kamaraj (the delivery executive), extending all possible support to make sure both sides of the story come to light and that due process is followed in the spirit of fairness."