Lucknow, 28 March 2014

An FIR has been registered against Congress candidate from Saharanpur Imran Masood for his controversial remarks threatening to “chop Narendra Modi into pieces” in violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

“The FIR has been registered against Masood at Deoband police station of Saharanpur,” Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Amrendra Sengar told reporters here.

Sengar said the Congress nominee has been booked under section 125 (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election) of the Representation Of The People Act, and various IPC sections.

Besides, he has also been booked under provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Sengar added.

A video of the speech, which has gone viral on the web, showed Masood attacking BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi during an election rally in Saharanpur, saying he will “chop him (Modi) into tiny pieces”.

“If Modi tries to make Uttar Pradesh into Gujarat, then we will chop him into tiny pieces. I am not scared of getting killed or attacking someone. I will fight against Modi. He thinks UP is Gujarat. Only 4 per cent Muslims are there in Gujarat while there are 42 per cent Muslims in UP,” he said.

Congress has earlier disapproved of Masood’s remarks.