The Bengaluru Police on Wednesday said they were collecting evidence against Hitesha Chandranee, the woman who was booked on Monday in a counter-complaint by a Zomato staffer, The Indian Express reported. Chandranee had initially accused Zomato employee Kamaraj of assaulting her, but the delivery executive claimed that she had injured herself and had abused him.
“A notice will be issued to the woman after the team probing the case is done collecting evidence,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) of Bengaluru City Police Joshi Srinath Mahadev told The Indian Express.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, Chandranee reportedly left Bengaluru after her address was leaked through videos shared online, leading to safety concerns, according to The News Minute.
While the police were yet to give an official statement on whether Chandranee has left the city, Anil Kumar, an inspector at the Electronic City police station told The News Minute that nobody answered the door when they went to her house.
“She feels afraid staying here as people might come to her home to speak with her about the complaint,” another unidentified police official told The News Minute. “We heard from her that she will contact the police today and will give a statement. She might not have left the city to abscond from the police and might contact us.”
The deputy commissioner of police said that Chandranee was free to go anywhere until a notice was issued against her, The Indian Express reported.
What happened?
On March 10, the Zomato delivery staffer was arrested shortly after the woman, a makeup artist and model, posted a video on Twitter accusing Kamaraj of punching her. In her post, she tagged the city police, who then asked her to provide her area details to assist her. A first information report, based on Chandranee’s complaint, was registered on March 10.
In her complaint, Chandranee mentioned that she told Kamaraj that she will not pay the bill as it was delivered 59 minutes late. The makeup artist alleged that in response, he abused her and punched her nose with his fist. Kamaraj was booked under sections 504 (intentional insult) and 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code. He was later released on bail and temporarily suspended from Zomato.
On March 11, Kamaraj refuted the allegations that he barged into the woman’s house without provocation, and punched her. He said the woman accidentally hit her nose with a ring on her finger as she was trying to push away his hand. “Anybody who sees her face, will understand that this [wound] wouldn’t be created by a punch. And I don’t wear any rings,” he said.
On Monday, Kamaraj filed a complaint against Chandranee, accusing her of abusing him and repeatedly hitting him with her sandal. The police then booked Chandranee under sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 355 (assault or criminal force), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
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