UP: Man discovers meat piece in vegetarian meal during Shravan; complaint lodged

A man in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao has alleged that a piece of meat was found in a vegetarian meal ordered online from a local restaurant, during the Hindu holy month of Shravan, police said on Sunday.

Dheeraj Singh, a resident of Magarwara and sevadar at a local temple, said he had placed an order from an online food delivery platform on Saturday night for dinner with his family and relatives. The order included kadai paneer, paneer fried rice and five rumali rotis.

He received the delivery on time but upon opening the package, a piece of non-vegetarian food was found along with the vegetarian dishes.

"Our entire family is vegetarian and eating meat is against our religious beliefs," he said.

Singh said when he called the restaurant after getting its number from the online food delivery platform, the management refused to acknowledge the error and allegedly told him, "We will see whatever happens."

He later uploaded a video on social media appealing to district and state authorities to take strict action, citing the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's efforts to ensure religious norms are respected during Shravan.

Calling it a matter concerning both "health and faith", Singh said the in-charge of Magarwara police outpost contacted him and sought a written complaint, which he submitted.

After the video surfaced, Unnao police posted on X that action would be taken after investigating the complaint lodged at Kotwali Sadar police station.

Repeated attempts to contact the restaurant owner were unsuccessful as he was neither present at the outlet nor reachable over the phone, police said.