A former member of India’s legislative meeting (MLA) belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was booked by police for “allegedly promoting hatred and enmity”, Indian media outlet The Print reported on Sunday.

The report mentioned that former BJP MLA Gyan Dev Ahuja was caught on tape saying that his supporters had “lynched five people” up to now for cow smuggling after which he was booked by the Alwar police, a metropolis within the northern Indian state of Rajasthan.

The report quoted Shiv Shankar, the station home officer of Govindgarh police station, as saying that the case was registered on a video that had cropped up after Ahuja visited the household of a person allegedly lynched by Muslims on Friday.

Shankar mentioned that the primary info report was registered below Section 153-A of the Indian Penal Code for selling hatred and enmity on the grounds of faith.

The report added that within the video, the previous BJP MLA might be heard referring to the 2017 Pehlu Khan lynching case and saying: “We have so far lynched five people, be it in Lawandi or Behror … I have given free hand to workers to kill. We will get them acquitted and secure bail.”

Khan died after he was attacked by tons of of Hindu vigilantes whereas transporting cows in India in April 2017.

The report quoted BJP’s Alwar (South) chief Sanjay Singh Naruka as saying that the social gathering “does not have this thinking” and Ahuja’s views have been his alone.

It added that when approached for a remark, Ahuja maintained that “anyone involved in cow smuggling and slaughter won’t be spared”.

He added that his staff had beat up 5 Muslims from the Mev neighborhood who have been allegedly smuggling cows.

Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra shared the video in query and lashed out at Ahuja and the BJP.

“What more proof is needed of BJP’s religious terror and bigotry? The real face of BJP has come to the fore in the entire country,” he tweeted.

In April, a US State Department report on human rights highlighted major violations in India, together with extrajudicial killings by authorities brokers, violence towards Muslims and killings by authorities and non-government forces in occupied Kashmir.

The US State Department had reported receiving credible details about Muslims being focused in sure elements of India.

“Muslim communities in certain areas remained vulnerable to communal violence and discrimination […] violence against Muslim communities continued during the year with cases of physical abuse, discrimination, forcible displacement, and lynching for suspected cow smuggling,” the report added.