Zomato Delivery Executive Shot Dead While Delivering Food In Haryana

A Zomato delivery agent was shot dead in Ansal township in Rewari, Haryana (~100 KM) from Delhi) as he was delivering a food package to a location in the township.

“This is the first time something like this is happening. He was carrying two food packets to be delivered and that was when he got shot. An FIR has been registered and we are investigating the matter,” Jabul Singh, the SHO (station house officer) of the Model Town police station in Rewari informed Inc42. 

The victim has been identified as Mahendra Singh aged 30, son of Rajdhal Singh from the village of Hudithal in Palwal, Haryana. After he was shot, a passerby who saw him lying on the ground injured called the police helpline. His mobile phone and wallet were reportedly found missing. 

Just last week, Salil Tripathi, another Zomato executive was killed in an accident where an allegedly drunk Delhi police officer crashed into his scooter and a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus.

Apart from the tragedy that has befallen the family and friends of the deceased, this news will come as another jolt to the publicly-listed food delivery unicorn Zomato who has spent a good part of this year and the last making headlines for all the wrong reasons. 

In 2020, it was rated as one of the worst places to work for gig workers by Fair Work India. In 2021, a video where Bengaluru-based model Hitesha Chandranee accused a Zomato executive of assaulting her went viral. According to Chandranee, the agent hit her on the nose and ran away.

In a twist to the story, the woman herself was later booked for assaulting the delivery executive. It also drew flak for releasing an ad featuring Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan calling a delivery agent “Jadoo” (a reference to a fictional character, an alien, that featured in his movie Koi… Mil Gaya), amidst complaints about the startup underpaying and mistreating workers.