New Delhi, October 15: Organisers of a garba event during Navratri 2018 in the US allegedly threw out a scientist from Vadodara and his three friends saying that their surnames didn't sound 'Hindu'. Karan Jani, a renowned astrophysicist, alleged the organisers of garba event at Sri Shakti Mandir in Atlanta forced him and his friends to leave from the venue where he had been visiting for last six years.

Narrating the incident with a video on social media, Jani wrote "Year 2018 & Shakti Mandir in Atlanta, USA denied me and my friends entry from playing garba because: 'You don’t look Hindu and last name in your IDs don’t sound Hindu'." He said he spoke to organisers in Gujarati, but they refused to budge. Navratri 2018 Images & Maa Durga HD Photos for Free Download Online: Happy Navaratri Wallpapers in 1080p & Navadurga GIFs for WhatsApp Greetings.

Jani said one of his Konkani friend who had come to garba for the first time "due to enthusiasm of us Gujaratis" was pulled out of the queue and asked to leave. When she showed her ID, the organisers said, "We don’t come to your events, you are not allowed to ours.", Jani said in a series of tweets.

When she said she is a Kannada-Marathi, and her last name is Murdeshwar, a volunteer responded, "What is Kannada? You are Ismaili.", the astrophysicist alleged. He said his other friends' last name had 'Dangarwala', and organisers said it didn’t seem to be a Hindu surname. "It was embarrassing. I had tears in my eyes," he said.

Jani later said he received a call from the temple’s management and the chairman apologised telling the temple doesn’t believe in discrimination.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 15, 2018 10:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).