2 eatery staff in net for lewd calls to customer

GREATER NOIDA: Two employees of a restaurant in Noida's Spice Mall were arrested on Wednesday on charges of stalking a 22-year-old woman, who had obliged to a feedback request when she visited the eatery a few days ago and given her phone number.

The woman, a student of mass communication, told the police they had been sending her lewd messages on WhatsApp and social media. On Tuesday evening, she visited the restaurant, Rasoi E Punjab, with five of her friends to confront the accused. A brawl ensued and the owner of the restaurant called police. However, the two suspects managed to run before police arrived at the scene.

The woman claimed one of the employees, Pradeep, had taken her phone number to get "feedback" on an order but started sending her messages and shared her number with another colleague, Himanshu.

She said, "On Tuesday evening, I spotted the man who had taken my number and asked him to call Himanshu but he refused and initially denied the whole incident. However, he later confessed that he had sent the texts and made the calls, and started fighting with my friends."

After police arrived at the scene, the woman's friends were booked for disturbing peace under Section 151 of the CrPC. Himanshu and Pradeep were booked in a separate case based on the woman's complaint under Section 354A (stalking) of the IPC.