A Pune-based senior scientist working with the India Meteorological Department filed a case against her cook on Friday for allegedly lying about being a Brahmin, the DNA reported. In her complaint, deputy director-general for the IMD’s weather forecasting section Medha Khole said that her cook, Nirmala Yadav, claimed that she was a Brahmin, despite being from the Maratha community.

Officers at the Sinhagad police station in Pune said Khole complained that Yadav, who she hired in May 2016, lied about her caste because she needed the job to overcome her financial troubles. But Yadav said Khole did not ask her caste while hiring her. “Khole only asked my name when I went to her for work last year,” The Hindu quoted Yadav. “It was only after the Ganesha festival that she discovered I was a Maratha and not a Brahmin. Following this, she barged into my house and began assaulting me, while stating that our God was of the streets while theirs was in the heaven. She also threw away my mobile phone.”

The scientist however claimed that it was Yadav who had assaulted her. She said her religious sentiments had been hurt on discovering that the cook was from the Maratha community, as she wanted to hire a married Brahmin woman to cook for family events. Khole also claimed that she had paid Yadav Rs 20,000 in wages till date.

The Maratha Kranti Morcha and other groups protested against Khole in front of Ved Bhavan in Pune’s Kothrud on Friday. Activists of the Sambhaji Brigade, a Maratha community organisation, demanded that a case be filed against the scientist under the Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2016.