A BJP parliamentarian in Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj district has been accused of abusing and assaulting a government official along with over two dozen of his followers over the distribution of free food grains among the poor during the lockdown.

Police have registered a case against Kannauj MP Subrat Pathak and 25 other unidentified people based on a complaint lodged on Tuesday by the assaulted tahsildar (revenue department official) Arvind Kumar.

Pathak denied any role in the assault and accused Kumar of being corrupt.

“Pathak and his supporters came to my official residence on Tuesday afternoon and accused me of not doing properly my job of food-grain distribution. When I refuted his allegation, he began abusing me. He and around 25 of his supporters kicked and punched me when I asked him to mind his language,” Kumar, who had an injury mark on his right cheek, told reporters on Tuesday evening.

The MP claimed that it was the tahsildar who had assaulted two of his associates whom he had sent to help out the needy because the official was allegedly not doing his job.

“I was not there when the incident took place. However, the tahsildar is a corrupt man. He is also an alcoholic and always misbehaves with me. I had on several occasions complained against him to senior officers,” Pathak said.

“I was distributing food packets among the needy at my residence when some poor residents of the area told me that they had not received food grains during the lockdown. The tahsildar shouted at me when I called him over phone to ask why he was denying the people their rights. Then I sent two of my associates,

Ranjeet Kashyan and Sachin Sharma, with a list of people who needed food grains immediately. The tahsildar and his goons attacked them,” the MP added.

Government officials are implementing chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s scheme to distribute 20kg of rice and 15kg of wheat for free among each individual in rural areas during the lockdown even if they don’t have ration cards.

Mohit Agrawal, the inspector-general of the Kanpur range, said: “We have received a complaint from the tahsildar and registered an FIR against some people.”

Rakesh Mishra, the district magistrate of Kannauj, said: “The law will take its own course. Whatever happened was unfortunate. It is a difficult time and we all are expected to work together during the Covid-19 outbreak.”