A little-known Hindutva outfit allegedly tonsured a Nepali youth and wrote “Jai Shri Ram” on his scalp in Varanasi, prompting a call from the Nepal ambassador to chief minister Adityanath and the registration of a police case.

Vishwa Hindu Sena leader and prime accused Arun Pathak had on Wednesday declared that “Nepalis living in India” would “face the consequences” if Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli didn’t withdraw his statement saying Ram was a Nepali.

The incident in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency comes amid bilateral tensions triggered by Kathmandu’s recent publication of a Nepal map that includes certain territories claimed by India and its blocking of a border embankment project in Bihar.

A video of the tonsuring that was uploaded on social media on Thursday shows a young man sitting on a rock on the Ganga’s banks at Assi Ghat while a man with his face covered in a towel shaves his head.

After the tonsuring, another man writes “Jai Shri Ram” in Hindi with a pen on the youth’s head and forces him to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Oli murdabad (Down with Oli)”.

Pathak also shared a TV news clip on Facebook on Thursday that identified the youth as a Nepali.

Nepal ambassador Nilamber Acharya has spoken to Adityanath, the Nepal embassy said in New Delhi.