A 20-year-old Amazon delivery executive, Sheikh Rehan Fayaz, was allegedly beaten up in Hyderabad's Jeedimetla area by a group of seven people on 5 August in a suspected case of hate crime.
The Jeedimetla Police registered a case against the assailants, one of whom has been identified as KP Vishal Goud, a local businessman, who is related to Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) MLA KP Vivekananda.
Fayaz, a native of Maharashtra who has been living in Hyderabad's Borabanda, claimed that he was beaten up because he was about an hour late to deliver a parcel at the house of a person named Ranveer.
He alleged that a group of 4-7 people, including Ranveer and Goud, attacked him with sticks and cricket bats after they asked him what his name was and where he was from. They also got hold of his Aadhaar card, Fayaz alleged.
'I Told Them It Was My First Day...'
At around 1 pm on 5 August, Fayaz, who was new to the job, was out delivering a parcel at KMP Residency in the Jeedimetla area. "The customer's location was wrong. The actual location was 1 km from the location shown on the app. I called the customer and he shared a location on WhatsApp. But I was late by an hour," he said.
"When I got to his house, the customer asked me what my name is and where I am from. As I was processing the delivery, I didn't give him an answer. Then he hit me on my neck a few times. I apologised to him saying it was my first day and that the location given in the app was wrong. He went inside and got a bat and hit me with the bat multiple times," Fayaz alleged.
He added that 4-7 others, carrying sticks and bats, also beat him. "They went to my bike and got my Aadhaar card and bike keys. They saw my card and then they were not leaving me. I begged them to leave me alone," he claimed.
Fayaz was let go only after "guests" arrived at the residence, he claimed. "I escaped from there and called my friends. They took me to the Jeedimetla police station and filed a complaint on the same day."
'Legs & Hands Fractured'
In a statement, Jeedimetla Circle Inspector M Pavan said that a case was registered on 10 August, five days after the incident occurred.
The Quint has reached out to the Jeedimetla Police for comment over the alleged delay in registering the case. This story will be updated once we receive a response.
The inspector, in the statement, further said that the customer Ranveer, Vishal Goud, and their friends hit the delivery executive "as he was late in delivering the parcel."
He has sustained fractures to his legs and hands, he added.
A copy of the First Information Report accessed by The Quint states that "they further snatched his mobile and deleted all WhatsApp data and call history and threatened him not to come to their area anymore."
The accused persons have been booked under Sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 324 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
The Quint has reached out to Amazon India for comment. This story will be updated once we receive a response.
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