Indian Student 'Sacked' From Job In Canada After Viral Food Bank Video Reveals True Story

A video of an Indian-origin man has gone viral on the internet, demonstrating how he gets “free food” from food banks designed for students in Canada. After the video stirred controversy, 26-year-old Mehul Prajapati has come forward to clarify the situation. Prajapati wanted to make informative videos to help his fellow students, but was labelled a “thief” and “freeloader.” In an exclusive interview with Moneycontrol, Prajapati cleared the air, carrying supporting documentation to back him up.

Contrary to claims, Prajapati did not steal from government-funded food banks intended to help those in need. Instead, he was taking advantage of an official programme offered by Wilfrid Laurier University, in which he is currently pursuing a master’s degree. Students experiencing food poverty can get free groceries through the university’s project, which is in partnership with LSPIRG and Martin Luther University College.

Despite the fact that Prajapati only mentions his college in the video and never brings up government-run food banks, his participation in the programme was misinterpreted, which fueled the internet fervour.

Programme details are provided on the college website. “LSPIRG and Martin Luther University College welcome you to our Free Weekly Distro program to combat food insecurity on campus. We provide free groceries and other essentials for Laurier and Luther students who need them,” it reads. The list also states that in order to be eligible for this, you must be enrolled at either college and present valid identification. A few months prior, Prajapati had additionally volunteered at the programme.

Prajapati’s ordeal began innocently enough, with a video demonstrating how he obtained free food for students at his institution receiving barely 4,000 views and three reactions from his humble 1,500 Instagram followers. After that, the video was downloaded and went viral on other social media sites like X and Reddit. This had an unanticipated result: Prajapati was called a “thief” and a “freeloader.”

Prajapati’s experience began when a social media user spread false information about his video. The user’s activities had unjustified consequences even though there was no concrete evidence to support them. The X user located Prajapati on Instagram and subsequently on LinkedIn, where she discovered TD Bank listed on his profile. She even proceeded to send an email to the bank, which was purportedly Prajapati’s workplace, in an attempt to get him “fired.”

Interestingly, Prajapati never held a position at the bank. His undergraduate degree requires him to complete two necessary internships, therefore he worked as an intern at the bank for 17 weeks, ending in December 2023. His internship paperwork has been examined and confirmed by Moneycontrol.

Prajapati was neither employed at TD nor did he get the Canadian Dollars 98,000 (Rs 59 lakh) that the user, who was merely looking for a median wage at the bank, said he had been given. Hence, could not be fired because he was not employed there in the first place.

Why, therefore, would TD Bank inform the user via email that he “no longer works at TD”? The bank just said that he was no longer employed there in their email, never mentioning that he had been fired. That also served as fuel for the user, who published the email on X, referred to him as a “food bank bandit,” and said that Prajapati had been fired.

Following the uproar, Prajapati received a lot of hate mail and threats, which prompted him to withdraw from social media and lock himself inside his house since Friday, according to Moneycontrol. His college provided support and denied any claims levelled against him, but law enforcement recommended caution.

Prajapati deleted all of his social media accounts in an attempt to distance himself from the hate and vitriol that began on Reddit on Friday and quickly made headlines on the websites of major Indian news outlets.

Speaking to Moneycontrol over the phone, Prajapati said, “Hearing my phone notification would scare me. I stayed locked up at home for six days, worried about my safety and dealing with feeling alone and unsupported. Nobody seemed to want to hear my side; they just believed false things about me that ruined the reputation I worked 25 years to build, all in just a few moments.”

He went on to say that he learned a “hard lesson” from this experience and that ‘not everything you read online is real’. According to him, the actual narrative differs greatly from popular belief. He admitted that social media and the internet have a dark side that can instantly turn someone into a hero or a zero.