An X (formerly Twitter) user, Pankaj Shukla, claimed on Monday (May 13) that he found a chicken piece in the paneer biryani he ordered from a well-known restaurant chain in Pune via a food delivery app.
Shukla took the microblogging site and stated that he ordered paneer biryani from PK Biryani House in Pune's Karve Nagar through Zomato. However, Shukla, a vegetarian, found a chicken piece in it. He shared that he received a refund for the order. However, he expressed that it has hurt his "religious sentiments" as he is a "religious person".
"ordered paneer biryani from pk biryani house karve nagar pune maharashtra and I found a chicken piece in it (I am a vegetarian) I already got refund but this os still a sin since I am a religious person and it has hurt my religious sentiments (sic)," Shukla wrote. He also posted a picture and a video showing the chicken piece.
This viral story was covered by several media houses. However, when The Free Press Journal sought to verify the authenticity of the post, it discovered that at least two other X users had shared identical videos and photos accompanied by the same text. One of these posts was made on May 5, while the other was posted on May 13.
After finding this suspicious, the FPJ went to PK Biryani at Karve Nagar and spoke to its manager, Vishnu Gawde. He confirmed that no such incident has taken place where a chicken piece was found in paneer biryani.
He added that some 10-15 days ago there was a confusion between a non-veg parcel and a veg parcel, which they immediately rectified. "It was done mistakenly by the delivery boy in the confusion between a veg and a non-veg parcel," he said.
"We have not received any recent complaints where a chicken piece is found in paneer biryani. We don't want to hurt anyone's sentiments," Gawde added.
When asked if he thinks PK Biryani is being targeted on social media, he acknowledged the fierce competition within the industry. However, he expressed his belief that no one would deliberately seek to tarnish the eatery's reputation.
The FPJ attempted to reach out to Pankaj Shukla and the two other individuals who had shared similar posts on X. However, they did not respond to our inquiries.
