Six days after a Zomato delivery person was accused of assaulting a Bengaluru woman Hitesha Chandranee, he filed a complaint against the Instagram influencer, alleging abuse and assault over the delay in delivery.

The complainant Kamraj K is an accused in a case filed by Hitesha after she alleged he had punched her over an argument at her apartment in Bengaluru.

The alleged incident took place on March 9 at around 4.50 pm when Kamraj arrived at the customer Hitesha’s residence with the food she had ordered. According to his complaint, Hitesha shouted at him, abused him in Hindi and hit his left hand with a footwear multiple times.

A FIR has been registered at Electronic city police station against Hitesha under sections 341, 355, 504, 506 of the IPC.

The incident had gone viral after Hitesha had made an Instagram video alleging being punched by Kamraj. “I ordered food from Zomato as I was working since morning. I ordered food around 3:30 pm, which was supposed to get delivered by 4:30 pm, and I did not get the order on time, so I was constantly following up with the Zomato customer care that either give me free delivery for the same or just cancel the order…” Hitesha said in the clip.

“And then the Zomato delivery guy came here. He was so rude… I didn’t open the full door, I spoke to him from a gap in the door and told him am talking to the customer care… I told him I don’t want the order since it was very late. But he refused to take the order and started screaming, ‘bloody I am your slave or what’… It felt so threatening, I got scared and I tried to push the door. But he was so huge, he pushed back the door, snatched the order back from me and punched me. Then he ran away…” she added in another video on Instagram.

However, soon after, Kamaraj countered her claims. The company’s founder Deepinder Goyal also released an official statement on the matter. “Kamraj has made 5,000 deliveries for us so far, and has a 4.75/5 star rating on our platform (which is one of the highest) and has been working with us for 26 months now (these are facts, not opinions or inferences),” the statement read.

“We are in constant touch with Hitesha covering her medical expenses and helping her with the proceedings. We are also in touch with Kamraj, 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,” it added.

Kamraj had refuted all claims made by the woman that he barged in her home and punched her on her face.

“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). I also apologised 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 told The News Minute (TNM).

He added that during the argument, Hitesha took the food and then refused to pay for the order. She said she was talking with Zomato chat support about the later delivery of the food. Fearing that he will lose payment for the order, Kamraj pleaded that she should pay for the order.

“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 told TNM.

By this time, Kamraj reportedly decided to leave the apartment premise and while he was walking towards the lift, Hitesha began abusing him and threw slippers at Kamraj.

“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 told the publication.