What is OYO Hotels & Homes, Ritesh Agarwal’s firm with link to Kanjhawala death case?

New Delhi: OYO Hotels & Homes is a company providing affordable rooms in hotels with less hassle and was founded by Ritesh Agarwal. Amid all the controversies regarding OYO and unmarried couples, the firm is again in the news. In Delhi’s Kanjhawala death case, where a 20-year-old woman was dragged for about 10-12 kilometres, it was revealed that she came out of an OYO hotel before the incident.

What is OYO Hotels & Homes?

Ritesh Agarwal, an Indian entrepreneur founded a solution for affordable and accessible room booking in hotels across the country. The firm has now expanded to 35 countries and covers more than 1,57,000 hotels and homes. One can now easily book a room in a hotel from the OYO app on their mobile phone.

The company opened its first OYO with Rajesh Yadav in Gurugram and worked through a website in 2013. After receiving the funding the next year, Ritesh expanded it into one of the leading businesses in India.

Apart from booking rooms in hotels, OYO provides facilities for homestay and rental services under OYO OS and OYO Life respectively. In 2019, the firm also acquired Leisure Group to enter the vacation homes business market.

OYO rooms are popular among unmarried couples as it provides bookings without any hassle and is known for their facilities and brand image.

OYO has helped small hotels to get listed and earn more in partnership. Affordable accommodation for travellers and city dwellers has made them big while aiding small businesses.

What is OYO’s link with the case?

The CCTV footage captured the victim Anjali Singh and her friend Nidhi Singh coming out of an OYO hotel at around 1:30 am on January 1. According to the reports, the boys had booked a separate room and the hotel staff saw them interacting with the girls.

Nidhi told that she was with Anjali on the scooty when her leg got stuck with the car and was dragged to death.