New Delhi Oct 27: The canteen of ‘Kerala House’ which is run by Kerala Government in New Delhi was raided yesterday by police after a rightwing Hindu group called ‘Hindu Sena’ complained it had beef on its menu.

Police said they only went to Kerala House as a “preventive measure”, not to investigate the complaint or take meat samples.

Kerala is one of the few Indian states in which cow slaughter is legal. But most states, including Delhi, ban the slaughter of cows, considered sacred by India‘s majority Hindu community.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Tuesday took strong exception to Delhi Police action at state-owned Kerala House in Delhi over beef served at its canteen. Chandy told the media in Kozhikode that the police should have shown restraint. “The state guest house is not a hotel. The police should have followed certain amount of guidelines while raiding a canteen at a government guest house. We would make our protest formal by writing to the Delhi government,” the Chief Minister said.

“I would like to inform you that the Kerala House staff canteen serves authentic vegetarian and non-vegetarian Kerala cuisine and the items in the menu are entirely within law,” the letter is reported to have said.

It is also reported that the kitchen will continue to serve the buffalo meat.

Following Monday evening’s incident, the police picked up the caller from the Hindu Sena group for further questioning.

“We dealt with the matter with necessary alertness and took our position. The objective was to ensure that law and order is not disrupted,” Jatin Narwal, a senior police officer, told the NDTV news site.