'Rat in Our Gravy': Food at Bandra Eatery Shocks, Restaurant Says 'Complainants Drunk' | WATCH

An eatery in Mumbai’s Bandra allegedly served rat instead of chicken to a Goregaon resident, who later filed a complaint. The restaurant, on the other hand, has accused the Goregaon man and his friend of being “drunk” and “trying to extort money” from them.

A senior bank manager and his friend filed a complaint at Bandra police station on Monday, saying that they were shocked to find a piece of “rat meat” in the chicken dish they had ordered at Papa Pancho Da Dhaba at Pali Naka on Sunday night.

Acting on their complaint, the officers arrested the cooks and the manager. They were, however, released on bail surety later.

According to a report in Times of India, the alleged incident occurred around 10.15pm on Sunday when banker Anurag Singh (40) from Goregaon (East) and his friend Amin Khan (40) were dining at the eatery.

The report stated that cooks Narayan Das and Sanjeev Kar, and manager Vivian Sequeira were booked under IPC sections for adulteration of food or drink intended for sale, an act endangering life or personal safety of others, and common intention.

“The food plate in which the rat piece was found has been sent to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for examination and the manager and cook were arrested,” Bandra police senior inspector Sanjay Marathe was quoted as saying.

Sequeira, meanwhile, said that it is an old restaurant and no such incident had happened in the 22 years of its existence. He further alleged that the complainants were “heavily drunk”.

“I was not at the restaurant when dinner was served. I was headed home but returned to attend to the query. The two customers were heavily drunk and the server spotted them consuming ‘miniatures’ (alcohol bottles) which they objected to since we do not serve alcohol. The two intentionally complained to extort money from us. The food is checked and microwaved so such a thing never happens,” Sequeira was quoted.

Devraj Gore, advocate for the restaurant, was quoted as saying that the two were inebriated and had almost finished their dinner when they pointed to a rat.

“They told the manager whether he would like to settle the matter and tried to extort money. Later they approached the police. This has been done to tarnish the restaurant’s reputation which has not faced any complaint in 22 years,” Gore added.

The TOI report quoted a police officer as saying that Singh and Khan filed a complaint after the restaurant manager allegedly failed to give them a proper explanation.

Singh, who hails from Madhya Pradesh, had moved to Goregaon with his family seven months ago. On Sunday, he met Khan for dinner, the report stated. Singh later told the publication that he went for a “health checkup” after the incident.