The six people who appeared on a video claiming to be members of the Hindu Maha Sabha and threatened the BJP have been arrested by Mangaluru police. In the video, they were seen "warning" the BJP if they go against the "culture and tradition of Hindus".
The people have been identified as Dharmendra, Prem Polali, Kamalaksha Padeel, Sudhakar Shetty, Praveen Shetty, and Ullas.
They said that the BJP has "backstabbed Hindus" by allowing a recent temple demolition in Mysuru. The ancient temple was demolished following Supreme Court orders on the demolition of illegal structures.
There have been reports that members of the Hindu Maha Sabha have made statements to the effect that they will "not spare anyone" who is anti-Hindu. One of the six men, Dharmendra said: "We have not spared Gandhi himself. How big a deal are you for us? If we can condemn the attack on Hindus and kill Gandhi, do you think we can't think about it in your case?"
The video of the press conference has gone viral on social media.
Meanwhile, the Hindu Maha Sabha said that the people on video have been expelled from the organisation. The Karnataka president of the Hindu Maha Sabha, Lohith Kumar Suvarna has filed a complaint against them for wrongly using the organisation's name.
Lohith has mentioned in the complaint that the six are trying to "create enmity between religions and instigate a clash in Mangaluru, which is already a sensitive area".
The FIR is registered under section 120(B) (Punishment of Criminal Conspiracy), 153(A) (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language), 505 (2) (Statement Conducing to public mischief), 506 (Punishment of criminal Intimidation), 465 (Punishment for forgery), 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating), 469 (Forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of the offence committed in prosecution of common object).