Akhil Singh

Rajat Grover

Singh Akhil

An IT professional from Pune was allegedly abused after he refused to pay the service charge at a restaurant in Baner. The customer has now taken to social media to write about his experience. On the other hand, the owner of the restaurant has lodged a police complaint, claiming he was a victim of cybercrime and harassment.Techievisited 1BHK SuperBar in Baner on Saturday evening with some friends. When the bill arrived, he refused to pay the service charge. After a discussion, the restaurant offered them a 10 per cent discount on the bill. Singh refused and repeated that he just wanted the service charges waived. Afterwards, his female friend, who had accompanied him, wrote a negative review of the eatery on Zomato, describing the incident. Singh claimed he then got a call from, owner of 1BHK, demanding the contact number of his female friend. When Singh refused to share the number, he said Grover started abusing him.“We refused to pay the service charge since it is not mandatory. But, the restaurant continued to impose it on us. There was no reason to call waiving the charge a discount. That was all that we tried to tell them. But it turned menacing when the owner called me and started yelling. He asked for my friend’s contact number. When I asked him why he wanted it, he started yelling at me I hung up, but he then started sending me abusive text messages. I responded to him twice, but he would not stop. The abuses and threats kept coming in. Finally, I took to Reddit and shared my experience. I was actually contemplating deleting the post, but then Grover wrote a threatening message on Reddit, claiming he would ‘beat me to pulp,’ said Singh. These posts have now gone viral on social media and a series of comments and experiences also followed.But Grover claimed that it was he who was victimised and has filed a complaint with the Chaturshrungi police and also approached Zomato to moderate the reviews.“We have a disclaimer mentioning that we have a service charge. Singh visited the restaurant and introduced himself as the assistant income tax commissioner. His friend, Surabhi Dhawan who was accompanying him, claimed to be a lawyer. When they refused to pay the service charge, the server offered them a discount and then they paid the bill and left. I found out next day that his friend had posted a negative review on Zomato. She claimed that they had been charged the service tax. I wanted to clarify the matter, so I called Singh on the contact number I received from Zomato. I asked him to share his friend’s number. Midway through the conversation,hung up the phone and then sent an SMS. This led to a series of texts between us. When we investigated, it turned out that he was not a government official, but an IT professional. I then sent him a message telling that he was a corrupt official resorting to arm-twisting tactics. But, it didn’t end there. The series of comments on Zomato and Reddit continued and there were reviews from Delhi, Bengaluru, and even California. How could someone who visited the restaurant on Saturday have reached all these places within a day? Also, there were comments from what they claimed was my profile, but I do not have a profile on either of these sites. We have lodged a complaint with the police as this clearly amounts to cybercrime,” said Grover.Singh, however, is claiming that he wants to end the issue. He clarified that introducing himself as an income tax officer was a half-truth and a mistake. “I was in the services, but I quit a year-and-a half ago to join a start-up. It wasn’t a lie. I just want this whole episode to end,” he said.Chauturshrungi police, however, said they had not received any complaint from Grover.█ It turned menacing when the owner called me and started yelling. He asked for my friend’s contact number. When I asked him why he wanted it, he started yelling at me I hung up, but he then started sending me abusive text messages