A shocking incident has come to light from Bengaluru’s Marathahalli region. A fun family outing turned into a distressing ordeal for Bengaluru resident Divya Chhabra. This comes as her newly purchased Mercedes-Benz, worth ₹1.4 crore, was severely damaged by valet staff.
The incident occurred at The Big Barbeque restaurant in Marathahalli. The valets were allegedly misusing the luxury car to create Instagram reels. The claims were made by Mercedes’ owner Chhabra who stated the reels practice is alarmingly common.
Valets Caught Joyriding in CCTV Footage
According to reports The Big Barbeque restaurant initially described the crash as a minor parking mishap. However, a later-released CCTV footage painted a completely different picture. The footage revealed that three valets took turns driving the car recklessly in the restaurant’s basement area. In the footage it was also seen that at least one of them filmed content for social media.
Following the release of the CCTV footage Chhabra issued a public video statement. Chhabra disclosed that only one of the three valets held a valid driving licence. She further claimed that one had no licence at all.
Lastly, Abdulla Laskar, the individual who ultimately crashed the car allegedly was found to have submitted a fake licence. An RTO verification was conducted on the three valets. RTO verification from Assam confirmed that the licence’s date of issue (2010) was inconsistent with Laskar’s birth year (1999).
Allegations of Fraud and Cover-Up
Tensions escalated as Chhabra accused the restaurant of attempting to cover up the incident. She said the management initially presented a random man as the driver. She claimed that the man restaurant presented was not among those shown in the CCTV footage.
She also alleged that the man wasn’t even present on the day of the crash. Furthermore, the restaurant allegedly fabricated a backdated agreement with a third-party valet agency to shift responsibility.
Furthermore, the insurance investigators validated the claims made by Chhabra. They confirmed both the misuse of the vehicle and the fake credentials. Investigators also recovered the video reel shot by the valets.
Legal Action and Unresolved Insurance Claims
According to reports, the estimated damage to the vehicle stands at ₹20 lakh. However, Chhabra says her insurance claim remains unresolved. The three accused valets are reportedly absconding in Assam. Meanwhile, the restaurant’s owner, instead of cooperating with the investigation, has filed a petition. The petition is allegedly filed in the High Court seeking to quash the FIRs, she added.
Chhabra’s Statement
“This isn’t just about one car,” said Chhabra. “This is about a system that lets untrained, unlicensed individuals handle vehicles worth crores, and when things go wrong, the attempt is to silence the victim, not fix the process.”
