Several residents of Uttar Pradesh’s Janakipuram have alleged that a car owned by a member of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s Hindu Yuva Vahini ran over a calf and dragged it for 20 metres, The Indian Express reported on Friday. The complainant, one Rajrani, said the driver and those in the car were drunk. Police have registered a case against unidentified people as the accused fled from the vehicle after the incident took place on Wednesday.

Locals claimed that the car was owned by the right-wing organisation’s Lucknow convener Akhand Pratap Singh. While Singh could not be contacted for his response, his sister Priyanka told the English daily he was away in Sitapur and that his car was with someone else. The organisation is known for propagating its stance on cow protectionism.

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Rajrani told the newspaper that the driver hit the calf, which was tied near the wine shop, and dragged it for some distance before he stopped the car. Some locals damaged the car after the incident. They also staged a protest outside the liquor shop, which remained closed on Thursday.

Local police said they are yet to verify who the owner of the car is. “The car has been seized but its owner is yet to be identified. A letter is being sent to the Regional Transport Officer,” Janakipuram Station Officer Satish Kumar Sinha said.

After the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in the state in March, it launched a crackdown on the illegal transportation of cows as well as sale of meat. It has also announced its strict implementation of the Supreme Court’s ban on sale of alcohol along highways. Reports of people ransacking and setting shops ablaze across the state have surfaced. Many have claimed the establishments are a nuisance in neighbourhoods.

The incident follows the lynching of a Muslim man by gau rakshaks in Alwar where he was stopped for transporting a milch cow, which he is believed to have bought for his dairy business.