Now, cockroach found in meal at Elante mall’s food court in Chandigarh

The customer alleged that when he showed the cockroach to the restaurant staff, they passed it off as a piece of onion, prompting him to call the Chandigarh Police

Over a month after a lizard was found in the food of a restaurant at the food court on the third floor of Nexus Elante Mall, a customer on Friday found a cockroach in his food at another food court eatery.

Owner of Ayaan Foods, that runs the food court at Elante, claimed that it was an act of sabotage by the mall management.

After calling the police to the spot, Anil Kumar, a resident of Mauli Complex, said he had come to have a meal with his wife and sister. He ordered fried rice from “Ni Hao”, a Chinese food outlet at the mall’s food court, and was shocked to find a cockroach in it.

He alleged that when he showed it to the restaurant staff, they passed it off as a piece of onion, prompting him to call the police.

In his complaint to the police, Kumar demanded action against the restaurant and mall management. The Elante food court is owned by Ayaan Foods and the restaurant is directly run by them.

Food court owner alleges conspiracy by mall management

Owner of Ayaan Foods, Puneet Gupta, however claimed that it was an act of sabotage by the mall management with whom he had a dispute regarding rent earlier in April. A case was also registered against the mall management back then.

Gupta alleged that the said customer was an employee of the mall and was even seen chatting with some of the other mall employees before the incident took place.

“In the over nine years since we are running the food court, we have never had such complaints. Yet, in the last two months, two incidents have cropped up. This started after dispute over the lease for the food court between us and the mall and the matter also went to court. The court has asked that the status quo be maintained, which is why these acts of sabotage are being executed,” he alleged.

In their statement, Nexus Elante Mall said, “We were made aware of the regrettable incident which happened at ‘Ni Hao’ kiosk at the food court on our premises managed by Ayaan Foods. This is the second incident in a very short duration at the food court managed by them and is unacceptable to us as the management of Elante. The hygiene and safety of our patrons is of utmost importance to us and we urge the local administration to conduct a thorough food safety audit in the food court managed by Ayaan Foods and to take necessary punitive action.”

Earlier on June 14, a lizard was found in a plate of cholle bhature ordered by a customer at Sagar Ratna, also located at the food court. The outlet had claimed that the lizard fell from the ceiling of the food court . Gupta however had claimed that the lizard was found under the bhatura, which meant it was already there at the restaurant.

Health department officials, however, remained unavailable for comment regarding what action was taken after the first incident.