delhi

Updated: Nov 05, 2015 00:30 IST

Delhi Police violated the law when they went to raid Kerala House to investigate if beef was being served there, a Delhi government-instituted probe into the incident has said.

Divisional commissioner A Anbarasu submitted his probe report on the raid to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday.

The report said as per provisions of the Delhi Agricultural Cattle Preservation Act (DACP), 1994 and rules framed under it, the police have no authority to “enter, enquire and search the alleged presence and sale of cow meet in the canteen.”

“Only the director of the animal husbandry department and veterinary officers are competent to enter any premises and to search and seize the place where they have reasons to believe that an offence has been committed or likely to be committed,” the report said.

Sources said the chief minister’s office is likely to forward the report to the Centre as well as the Kerala government.

The report said the entry of the Delhi Police team in the Kerala House canteen on October 26 “cannot be construed as a visit for enforcement of law and order and they had visited there with the sole purpose of investigation into the complaint”.

In its report, the team has concluded that though it was amply clear to the police team during the first visit to the canteen that no beef was served, “it made a second visit after a gap of 15-20 minutes which the inquiry report termed absolutely unethical”.

The police had maintained that a team had visited the canteen after receiving a call that ‘beef’ was being served at the canteen. Later, police arrested Hindu Sena chief Vishnu Gupta for allegedly making a false complaint that the canteen served “beef”.

The ‘raid’ had come under sharp criticism from the opposition parties. The Kerala government took up the matter with the Union home ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office. The Kerala government had even threatened legal action if the Centre does not admit that the “raid” by police at the state-run guest house was a “mistake”.

The Kerala House had also decided to discontinue buffalo meat after the Delhi Police visit that came amid a raging nation-wide debate on beef ban and growing incidents of intolerance.During questioning by the police at the building gate, the guest house and canteen staff had said that all meat was sourced from slaughter houses authorised by the Delhi government. Cow meat is banned in the entire Delhi-NCR region.