Two Hindu friends of Zeeshan Ali Khan, the applicant who had been refused the post of marketing executive on Thursday by leading diamond export company Hari Krishna Exports Management because he was a Muslim, have also decided to not work with the firm.Khan and friends had sent their resume to the company’s email address on May 19 for a position in international sales. Within 15 minutes, Khan received a reply from the company which stated “We regret to inform you that we hire only non-Muslim candidates”.Khan's friends Omkar Bansode and Mukund Manimohan Pandey, also MBA graduates from DY Patil Institute of Management in Navi Mumbai, had also sent in their application on the same day as Khan. While Pandey had cleared both the interview rounds on May 20, Bansode had one more round of interview to clear. “I could not believe the response they sent to Zeeshan. We are very close friends and we don’t want to join such a company which ignores talent over religious background. We will apply elsewhere,” said Pandey.Bansode has similarly decided not to go for the second interview and has withdrawn his application.Apart from the religious discrimination, Bansode alleged that the company has strict rules which struck him as absurd. “While my primary reason for withdrawing my application is the unfair discrimination that Zeeshan faced, the company has very unreasonable rules. Apart from non-vegetarian food not being allowed in office, employees are not allowed to exit the office building during working hours (shift of 10 hours),” said Bansode.He added that after the interview, he was told that employees will have to wear the company t-shirt during office hours. “Wearing t-shirts bearing their logo is something that store employees do. It seemed absurd that despite being MBA graduates, we would have to do the same,” said Bansode.Following the Zeeshan episode, an FIR was initially registered with VB Nagar police station following which the case was transferred to BKC police station. Deven Bharti, Joint Commissioner of police (law and order) said, “We have issued 8summons to the HR official who sent out the email rejecting the job application on religious grounds. We will investigate the matter and find out under whose instructions the mail was sent out.”The company has earlier been in the news for its generosity towards employees. In October last year, the founder of the company, Savji Dholakia gifted cars, flats and gold-and-diamond jewellery worth a total of Rs 50 crore to nearly 1,200 employees in Surat Ltd on the occasion of Diwali. The company had then stated that the gifts had been given to those who had passed the ‘loyalty test’ where employees ranged from a diamond polishing worker to marketing and office executives.Meanwhile, denying charges of discriminating on religious grounds, the company on Friday stated that it currently has 71 Muslim employees out of their total strength of 1,100 in Mumbai.The company stated that the mail was sent by a trainee, Dipika Tike, by mistake. According to the company, 30-year-old Tike has been with the company since February this year.The company maintained that they do not have any such hiring policy that encourages religious discrimination. “The email was sent by a trainee by mistake and an apology was also sent after that. Out of a total of 1,100 employees in Mumbai, there 71 Muslims who also work with us in departments like jewellery manufacturing and as peons,” said Bhaskar Joshi, manager of the HR department. He however, stated that there were no Muslims in the HR department, in the sales department or in senior positions.A former employee of the company also confirmed that the company doesn’t have Muslims in executive posts. “During my tenure, there were no Muslims in the senior positions. I don’t think the company is open towards hiring Muslims either,” she said.Though the company had stated that Dipika Tike had made a mistake and had apologised for it as well, sources stated that she has been asked to leave the company. Joshi, however, did not want to comment on whether she continues to work with the firm or not.“She is in shock and has not come for work today,” Joshi said. Despite several attempts, Tike could not be reached for comment.