Three makeshift meat shops were set afire early on Wednesday in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras area by some anti-social elements, police said.

The shop owners, Raees and Muhammad Sindhi said that at around 3 a.m. they came to know that their makeshift shops situated near city's Kashiram Colony had been set ablaze.

The shopkeepers abstained from taking any names and said their shops were burned down by miscreants.

The shopkeepers said that they had to bear losses close to Rs 75,000.

"An FIR has been lodged against unknown miscreants. We are investigating the matter," a police official told media.

District Magistrate of Hathras Avinash Krishna Singh said it was a small incident.

Asked if the incident had any communal angle, Singh said it was yet to be ascertained.

A number of meat shops and slaughter houses, mostly illegal, have been either attacked or forced shut by vigilantes or by the district administration at various places in the state after formation of the BJP government.