Cheating Case Filed Against Odisha-Born OYO Founder & Six Others

A hotelier in Bengaluru has filed a cheating case against Odisha-based OYO Hotels & Homes Founder Ritesh Agarwal and six others alleging the firm had not paid Rs 35 lakh room rent for the past five months.

Betz Fernandez, owner of Roxel Inn at Domlur in Bengaluru, stated that OYO had booked rooms and had agreed to pay Rs 7 lakh per month. However, not a single penny has been paid since May.

Besides Ritesh Agarwal, police have booked Rohit Srivastava, head of OYO South, heads of business development Madhvendra Kumar and Gourab De, OYO Finance Officers Prateek Agarwal, Manjeet Singh and Mrimony Chakraborty.

Ritesh Agarwal, who hails from Rayagada, Odisha, is the founder and CEO of OYO Hotels and Homes. The company said via a statement that it will file a counter complaint against the hotel owner for “using improper legal means to sensationalise a civil dispute and get attention.” “Our lawyers are looking into the matter and will be taking strong legal action as these claims are incorrect and defamatory in nature,” OYO said.

“We always follow the law of the land and operate keeping in mind the best interests of our asset owners, customers and employees,” it added.

Currently, the Softbank backed hotel chain OYO has over 18,000 hotels or 2.7 lakh rooms in its network across 500+ cities in India.

Recently, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said that it will investigate OYO and MakeMyTrip for violation of rules barring incompetitive agreements between parties. The Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) had filed a complaint stating that both the parties have entered into confidential commercial agreements wherein (MakeMyTrip) has agreed to give preferential treatment to OYO on its platform, further leading to a denial of market access to Treebo and Fab Hotels.