An eatery (dhaba) in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur was forced to shut after a video appeared to show a lizard baked into a tandoori roti served to customers went viral on social media.
The clip, filmed at Bajpai Dhaba in Chaubepur, showed a customer breaking open a roti to reveal the reptile inside. He presented it to the dhaba owner, who reportedly told staff to replace it.
“I have vomited,” the man said in the video, adding, “If it had been a small thing, I would have let it slide, but a lizard, seriously. Do you even understand how big this matter is?”
Watch the viral video here:
Notably, no formal complaint was lodged, but the viral video prompted the Kanpur food safety department to inspect the premises.
Fertiliser department inspector Sanjay Kumar Singh told India Today that their two-member team – Rajesh Yadav and Ajit Singh – found “a lot of dirt” at the site.
“Samples of tandoori paneer and vegetables were collected for testing. The dhaba was subsequently sealed,” he said.
Chaubepur police confirmed they had not received any complaint and therefore had not taken action. The inspector said they had seen the video but could proceed only after a formal report was filed.
The Bajpai Dhaba, run by Sonu Bajpai, has not publicly commented on the incident. The customers seen in the video have not been identified, and the exact date of the footage remains unclear.
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