A probe instituted by the AAP government has revealed that the Delhi police violated law by entering Kerala House to “investigate” whether beef was being served in its canteen and the police personnel used “abusive language” against the staff.
The city police raid at the state-run canteen kicked off a political storm last week. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had last week asked divisional commissioner A. Anbarasu to submit his fact-finding report over the incident.
The report added that the Delhi police’s entry in Kerala House canteen on October 26 could not be construed as a mere visit as claimed by the law enforcement agency as they had gone there with the “sole purpose of investigation” after receiving a complaint.
The probe echoes the views of Kerala chief minister Oomen Chandy that the police raided the canteen without any permission from the resident commissioner of the Kerala House. It points out that even though it was amply clear to the police team during the first visit to the canteen that no beef was being served, the police made a second visit after a gap of 15-20 minutes, which the inquiry report termed as “absolutely unethical.”
The probe, conducted by the director of animal husbandry under supervision of Mr Anbarasu, said that some of policemen had used “abusive language” while shouting at staff of the canteen and created an “environment of unrest.”
“Two police officials were polite initially but became rude and started using abusive language later on. These officials neither collected any sample nor recorded any statement of the officials/staff working in the canteen,” the report said.
The Delhi police had maintained that its team had visited the canteen at the state-run guest house after getting a complaint that it served “beef.” Later, the police arrested Hindu Sena chief Vishnu Gupta for allegedly making a false complaint that the canteen served “beef.”
A senior Delhi government official said that the report is being sent to the Union home ministry and the Kerala government
