New Delhi: Former Punjab DGP and the principal strategic advisor of state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, Mohammad Mustafa has been booked for allegedly making communal remarks at a public meeting in Malerkotla, police here said on Sunday.


According to Malerkotla Senior Superintendent of Police, Ravjot Kaur Grewal, as quoted by news agency PTI, an FIR under IPC Section 153-A and Section 125 in The Representation of the People Act has been lodged against Mustafa after a video showing him making the alleged remarks was circulated on the social media.  


The FIR, based on the complaint of a police officer in Malerkotla, has been lodged with charges of promoting enmity between different groups on religious and racial grounds ahead of the elections.


While the BJP on Saturday accused the former Punjab IPS officer of making the controversial remarks against Hindus at a public meeting, Mustafa, the husband of Punjab cabinet minister Razia Sultana, who is the Congress candidate from Malerkotla assembly seat, denied the charge saying he never used the Hindu word.


He said that he had only targeted the Aam Aadmi Party workers after some of them allegedly chased and tried to manhandle him.


As per the PTI report, Mustafa had gone to an event of some Congress workers nearby where he used the word "fitno" (mischief makers) for AAP workers belonging to the Muslim community and there was no question of warning Hindus.


The video of Mustafa making the alleged remarks was shared by BJP leaders Sambit Patra and Shazia Ilmi on their Twitter handles on Saturday.


"There was absolutely no Hindu-Muslim context to what happened in Malerkotla to which the quoted video clip relates. It was a verbal outburst unilaterally mischievously provoked by Jhaduwalas, all Muslims," Mustafa tweeted.


The alleged video clip was played by the BJP at a press conference on Saturday.


"I swear by Allah that I will not allow them to hold any event. I am a 'kaumi fauji (soldier of community)' I am not an RSS agent who will hide in the house out of fear…If they again try to do such a thing, I swear by Allah I will thrash them in their homes," the video allegedly showed him saying, said the PTI report.


AAP leader Raghav Chadha also took a dig at Mustafa for his remarks and said that the Congress was trying to disturb the atmosphere in the state ahead of the polls.


Reacting to the alleged remarks, BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh also demanded that party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi clear their stand on the matter.