{
  "id": 12540544,
  "title": "Manager booked for telling workers to learn Hindi",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/07/manager-booked-for-telling-workers-to-learn-hindi",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-07T03:31:58.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Economic Times",
    "slug": "the-economic-times",
    "url": "https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/new-updates/bengaluru-zomato-supervisor-viral-video-manager-booked-for-telling-workers-to-learn-hindi-or-quit-the-job/articleshow/134754886.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A Zomato warehouse manager in Karnataka has been arrested after allegedly instructing his employees to learn Hindi to continue working, as reported by a TOI article. The accused, 31-year-old Ashok Muttayy from Andhra Pradesh, later expressed regret following protests by Kannada activists outside the warehouse and the police registering a case. Ashok holds a supervisory role at a rented warehouse in Madanayakanahalli, near Nelamangala. The dispute arose after Ashok reprimanded some workers for an internal issue, leading them to request that he communicate in Kannada instead of Hindi, as they struggled to comprehend his words. Ashok allegedly replied that he did not know Kannada and spoke only Hindi. A worker captured the exchange on video, which subsequently went viral. The worker's statement that Ashok told the workers, \"If you all want to work with me, learn Hindi. Else, you can leave and go. I am not bothered,\" sparked outrage among local Kannada groups. In response to the video, Kannada activists gathered outside the warehouse on Sunday to demand action against Ashok for his alleged remarks. Police subsequently initiated a suo motu investigation and filed a petition against the warehouse manager. The manager subsequently apologized for the incident, which stemmed from a workplace disagreement over the language used in communication between the manager and his employees.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}