A family travelling from Shirdi to Mumbai on the Vande Bharat Express was appalled after they found a “dead cockroach” in the meal that was served to them during their journey on August 19. Enraged over the discovery, the family complained to an Indian Railways official as a video of the episode has surfaced on social media.

Rikki Jeswani narrated the plight of his family in a post on X saying that one of them found a “dead cockroach” in the dal that was served as part of the meal.

Meanwhile, X user Divyesh Wankhedkar shared pictures and the video related to the incident in a post that was further reposted by Jeswani. The images included a picture of the complaint that Jeswani had filed with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) apart from a photograph of the contaminated dal.

In the video, Jeswani’s son was seen complaining to the Indian Railways official about the quality of food that was served to passengers on the train.

“I could not consume the curd. While I was having my food and the dal was in my mouth, my aunt said that she had found a cockroach in it. My 80-year-old grandfather had the same food as well. Do you’ll also have the same food,” he asked.

Jeswani enquired about the next step as the official urged him to file a complaint so that the matter could be investigated further.

IRCTC, meanwhile, responded to Wankhedkar’s post on X saying that a penalty has been imposed on the service provider.

“Sir, the inconvenience caused to you is deeply regretted. The matter has been viewed very seriously. Penalty has also been imposed upon the service provider and officials have been deputed to thoroughly inspect the kitchen unit of the service provider,” IRCTC said in their post.

In a similar incident reported two months ago, a couple found a ‘cockroach’ in their food served during their journey from Bhopal to Agra on the Vande Bharat Express. A passenger travelling via the Vande Bharat Express from New Delhi to Varanasi earlier this year had also alleged that stale food was served to him and others during the journey.