Zomato controversy: Every coin has two sides; netizens trend #MenToo
Zomato delivery executive Kamaraj says Hitesha Chandranee hit her nose with her own ring and refutes the allegations of assaulting and injuring her; read his side of the story
FollowSince last two days, Bengaluru woman Hitesha Chandranee, a beauty influencer, is trending all over the internet because she accused the Zomato delivery executive named Kamaraj of assaulting and injuring her.
As soon she posted the video, where she narrated the whole incident with her bleeding nose many celebs and other social media influencers started sharing the same.
Later, Kamaraj was arrested and released on bail and is now he is under temporary suspension from Zomato.
But now there are two versions of the story: The woman's statement and accusations, and the other of the accused man, Kamaraj quoting by NDTV and The News Minute. Post Kamaraj's statements the social media has been divided into two groups.
In an interview with The News Minute, Kamaraj allegedly said that Hitesha was the first to verbally abuse and then hit him with a chappal.
According to TNM, Kamaraj first reached Hitesha Chandranee's apartment door and waited for her to pay because she opted for cash on delivery mode of payment. He also said sorry for his delay due to traffic and bad roads.
Yes, currently many people in Bengaluru are facing the same bad and blocked road across the city. Many times this causes traffic jams and problems while driving.
So coming back to Kamaraj's version, after he apologised and explained why he was late, she was not ready to listen to his explanation and started behaving rudely. Then Hitesha took the food and refused to pay because he was over 40 minutes late and said she would talk to Zomato chat support.
Worrying that he will lose money, Kamaraj begged that she pay for the order. During the conversation, Kamaraj claimed that she called him slave, abused him and in the meantime, Zomato support told me that they had cancelled the order from their end based on her request, and I asked her to return the food but she did not cooperate for that too.
Kamaraj was quoted by TNM, “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,” he said.
He added, “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 a punch wouldn't create this. And I don’t wear any rings,” he says.
Unfortunately, there was no CCTV footage to prove my innocence, and now I have to spend Rs 25,000 for legal expenses to prevent my arrest.
Post the interview, social media is divided into groups, one supporting Hitesha and the other who empathise with Kamaraj. Some are have started hashtag #MenToo and #zomatodeliveryboy.
The restaurant aggregator's founder Deepinder Goyal tweeted a statement. He said his company helped both Hitesha and Kamaraj "with all the support they need while the investigation is pending".
Zomoto said Kamaraj had made 5,000 deliveries and had a 4.75/5 star rating, one of the highest, asserting that these were facts and not opinions.
