Watch: Bengaluru restaurant valets crash Rs 1.4 crore Mercedes-Benz while making reels
What was meant to be a peaceful family lunch turned into a nightmare for Bengaluru resident Divya Chhabra when her newly purchased Mercedes-Benz, valued at Rs 1.4 crore, was wrecked by valets allegedly using the car to film Instagram reels.
The incident occurred on February 26, 2025, at The Big Barbeque restaurant in Marathahalli, and the video is being widely circulated now. Chhabra said she handed over her keys to a valet as part of the restaurant's parking service, the CSR Journal reported.
Less than an hour later, her vehicle was found crashed into a wall in the restaurant's basement. Before her family could assess the damage, she claims the restaurant staff had already cleared debris and bricks from the scene.
Initially, restaurant management described it as a routine parking mishap. However, Chhabra later released video evidence showing three valets taking turns behind the wheel, driving her vehicle recklessly and filming social media content with it.
'It was supposed to be a simple lunch outing,' Chhabra told the outlet. 'But the person who crashed my car didn't even hold a valid driving licence.'
One of the valets had allegedly used a forged driving licence to secure his job. Another valet involved apparently had no licence at all. Only one among the trio had the legal credentials to drive.
Insurance investigators later corroborated these claims, verifying the fake and missing documents, she claimed. They also recovered the Instagram reel that was filmed in the vehicle. Chhabra said one of the valets even confessed that using expensive vehicles for making reels was a frequent practice.
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'Despite handing over my keys to one driver who appeared to do his job properly, two others later accessed the vehicle and took it for a spin in the basement. That's when the crash occurred,' she explained.
On the day of the incident, Chhabra alleges the restaurant tried to disrupt the investigation by presenting a random man as the driver, someone who was neither present during the incident nor seen in the footage. She also claims that the restaurant later produced a fabricated, backdated contract with a third-party valet service in an attempt to distance itself from liability.
Chhabra says the restaurant's owner filed a petition in the High Court to dismiss the FIRs lodged against them. She says the damage to the vehicle is estimated at Rs 20 lakh. However, the insurance claim remains unresolved due to the ongoing dispute.
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