A 39 year old Food Delivery agent named Raees Sheikh got arrested after a 19 year old college student registered a complaint against him alleging that he kissed her while delivering her food. The incident happened at Pune on 17th of September and the arrest was made on the same night. However, the court granted him bail the next day and the victim is not in a state to talk to the media.

Jagannath Jankar, the area Police officer who is in-charge, said to media “The young woman, a student who lives on rent, placed an order on food delivery app Zomato. But Zomato apparently interchanged the delivery with Dunzo app. The man who went with the order around 9 : 30 PM, asked for water and got inside the house”

“When she returned, he grabbed her by the arm and kissed her twice” the Police official further added. “He left as she resisted and later sent her messages saying “he was like her uncle”. The woman came to us with a friend and we managed to arrest him on the night we received the complaint” the Police said.

“The court granted him bail the next day. He had no previous criminal record” Jagannat concluded. The accused in charged with sexual harassment under sections 354 and 354 A of the Indian Penal Code. However, Zomato had said that the delivery agent did not work for them, and that the company would cooperate in the probe as per the requirements. A probe is on to determine how the order chain from one app to another came about.

In the meantime, the official twitter handle of Dunzo came up with a press statement saying “Dunzo takes partner background verification very seriously and we conduct third-party background verifications. We have a zero-tolerance policy towards misconduct and inappropriate behaviour. From the time we heard the news, we have been in constant touch with the authorities to understand the details of the case and extend our full co-operation” in it.

Here’s the post :

A recent unfortunate incident happened in Pune with a food delivery. Here’s our stand on the issue. pic.twitter.com/CVFdXccFjC

— Dunzo (@DunzoIt) September 20, 2022

“The partner in question did not have any previous record, which has also been confirmed by the police. We are continuing to work closely with them to ensure a speedy and fair resolution of this matter” the note read.

While the woman refused to interact with the media, her house owner said “She is very scared and tensed. After the incident, we counselled her and helped her to go to the Police, so that no one can dare do such thing again” to NDTV.

The Police officer said that such apps should carry out proper character verification and background check before working with anyone. “There are several young men and women are living alone in several areas of Pune, which has many educational institutions. They should be careful while trusting anyone, especially when they are alone and at night. They should have their friends and Police phone numbers in their mobile phones for such emergency situations” the Police officer said.