Beagle puppy picked up by Zomato delivery staffer is home after 52 hours

A two-month-old beagle puppy that was allegedly dognapped by a Zomato delivery boy from the premises of Pune resident Vandana Shah was returned after two days on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Shah lodged a complaint at Pune’s Alankar police station about her missing beagle puppy named Dottu. According to the police complaint, Dottu went missing on the morning of Monday around 11.30 am from Shah’s home-cum-factory premises. The factory produces ball bearings.

Shah said that closed-circuit television footage showed that Dottu was on the premises before he went missing. The next day, another delivery boy near her residence recognised the dog from a picture and said it was taken away by a fellow Zomato staffer named Tushar. Tushar had apparently shared a picture of her puppy with another delivery man of Zomato.

Shah said that she had not ordered anything from Zomato.

“We tried to contact Tushar’s number but he did not respond. The following day he confessed that he had picked up the dog and said he was ready to return it but kept giving many excuses and did not show up,” said Shah.

Shah said that the police initially refused to lodge a complaint but registered one eventually after being told that she is a lawyer. She said that Zomato declined to accept that the dog was picked up by their food delivery boy.

According to Shah, on Wednesday, Tushar shared his address on the outskirts of Pune, and her family rushed to take the custody of their pet. She said that Tushar was not present there and pleaded on the telephone that he belonged to a poor family and the police case against him be withdrawn.

Police inspector Kalpana Jadhav confirmed that the puppy had been returned to Shah.

Zomato did not respond to HT’s calls for comments.