Courier Staffer Booked Over 105 Missing One8 Returns

GURUGRAM: Police have registered a case against a delivery employee of logistics firm Xpressbees who allegedly held on to 105 high-value shoe and clothing parcels that customers had returned to sportswear brand One8, instead of sending them back to the brand.

The employee has been identified as Hawa Singh of Narhera village. He worked as a delivery boy whose job included collecting return shipments from customers, carrying them on his assigned route and handing them back into the system so they reached the client.

The case was registered at the Bilaspur police station on a complaint by Tilak Raj, an official of Xpressbees, under Section 306 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with theft by a clerk or servant of property in the possession of the employer.

## How the parcels allegedly went missing

According to the complaint, an internal inquiry by the company found that Singh would take three or four extra high-value shoe and clothing shipments along with his regular route load. Rather than returning them through the prescribed process, he allegedly kept them. The company's count put the missing One8 shipments at 105.

The complaint says the loss to the company and its client was substantial. A value for the goods has not been made public.

## Bills and CCTV before FIR

The case was not registered straight away. Police first ran an inquiry and issued a notice to the complainant to produce bills for the missing goods and other evidence.

"During the inquiry, police issued a notice to the complainant to produce bills of the stolen goods and other evidence. On Sept 22, Tilak Raj produced bills of the stolen goods and CCTV footage stored on a pen drive," a police officer said.

Sub-inspector Ghanshyam examined the complaint, the bills, the documents and the CCTV footage, and concluded during the inquiry that an offence under Section 306 was made out. The FIR followed.

Police have not said whether Singh has been questioned or arrested. The allegations are yet to be tested in court.

## Why returns are a weak point

Returns, or reverse logistics, depend heavily on the person who does the pickup. A courier collects the parcel from a customer's door and is expected to carry it back to the hub, from where it moves on to the brand. If a parcel never reaches the hub, the gap may show up only later, when the brand reconciles its returns against its records.

That appears to be what happened here: the missing parcels surfaced through the company's own audit, and the police case was built on the firm's bills and camera footage.

One8 is the sportswear label co-founded by cricketer Virat Kohli. It is currently owned by Agilitas Sports, with Kohli continuing as an investor.