Pepsi fined for cockroach in bottle

NEW DELHI: A man who received the shock of his life after seeing a cockroach floating in his bottle of Pepsi nine years ago has won a Rs 1,000 compensation against the company, its distributor and the seller.

The Delhi Consumer Commission, presided over by Justice J D Kapoor, has directed M/s Pepsi Food Ltd and a distributor and its retail outlet to pay the damages to S Gopal for the "mental agony and shock he suffered on seeing a cockroach in the bottle".

"The presence of the foreign object in the bottle itself renders the goods defective. Appellant (Gopal) did not consume the contents of the bottle, otherwise it would have caused physical injury," it said in a recent order.

Gopal, a resident of Greater Kailash in south Delhi, had approached the Commission after his complaint was dismissed by a District Forum, saying the bill produced by him nowhere specified the product as 'Pepsi' and it also did not carry the name of the person who bought it.

It had further found fault with the complaint, stating the bill was for Rs 80 and a bottle of Pepsi could not cost him this much.

The Commission, however, differed from the Forum's view and noted that it had failed in appreciating the fact that Gopal purchased four bottles of the soft drink for Rs 80 and not just one.