Contemplating action against Vishnu Gupta over 'false complaint': Bassi

The Delhi Police on Tuesday said they were contemplating action against Hindu Sena founder Vishnu Gupta, who had called PCR that "beef was being served at Kerala House".

"Our PCR received a call at 4:21pm on Monday, informing us that beef was being served at Kerala House. As we give utmost priority to any call concerning law and order situation, we had no option, but to react and react very fast," said B.S. Bassi, Delhi Police Commissioner, in a press conference.

"The person we got a call from has been in our notice and action has been taken against him for creating mischief in the past also. And thus, we're contemplating action against Vishnu Gupta under Section 182 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for lodging false complaint with a public servant," the police commissioner added.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police's Public Relations Officer (PRO) Rajan Bhagat had earlier confirmed that police had not raided Kerala House.

Bhagat said that the police visited the place in response to a PCR call to check if anything mischievous was being done. He added that after being satisfied, the personnel left from there, but no seizures were made.

Earlier today, Bassi defended the raid on Kerala House, saying they had done nothing illegal and were well within their rights under the Agricultural Cattle Preservation Act 1994 to investigate.

"We are an instrumentality of law and when we get a call, we have no choice but to respond. And in this case, we acted as per the law and are entitled to act in this fashion under the Agricultural Cattle Preservation Act 1994,"said Bassi.

"We went there to ensure there was no trouble. We cautioned them against the miscreants and warned them. We still have our officers deployed there as a precautionary measure in case trouble rears again," Bassi added.

Talking about the Agricultural Cattle Preservation Act 1994, the top cop said slaughtering of agricultural cattle such as cow, calf, bull, ox and bullock is prohibited under the act.

"Even the possession of these meats is against the law in the national capital," he added.

Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy however, slammed the Delhi Police and said that it was a government establishment they had barged into and not some 'private' hotel.

"The Delhi Police should have shown restraint. It was not some local restaurant running for profit but an official guest house where they barged into. It's a place where the Chief Minister and other important ministers and dignitaries stay. And even if some sort of complaint arises, there is a proper procedure before action is taken. Clearly, the Delhi police are not under their government's control, but under the Centre's," said Chandy .

Nearly 20 police officials went to Kerala House on Monday evening after Vishnu Gupta, called and complained that the canteen at the state guest house was serving beef.

However, the Kerala House said they served only buffalo meat and had named it 'beef'.