Congress nominee from the Saharanpur Lok Sabha seat Imran Masood was on Saturday arrested after a case was registered against him for his controversial remarks against BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
A video clip depicting Masood saying he would “chop Modi into tiny pieces” if the Gujarat chief minister decided to “make Uttar Pradesh into a Gujarat” went viral on the Internet on Friday.
He was arrested from his residence at Saharanpur early on Saturday. Masood was later produced before a district court, which remanded him in 14-day judicial custody after rejecting his bail application.
The Congress nominee, however, showed no signs of remorse over his remarks.
“I am prepared to go to jail hundred times for speaking against Modi,” a defiant Masood said after coming out of court.
He also claimed that the controversial video footage was eight months old. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi also endorsed the claim, though he made it clear that it was not the party’s culture to use such words.
Masood’s supporters, who gathered in large numbers near the court premises, created a ruckus and police had to resort to mild lathicharge to disperse them.
Incidentally, Imran was earlier given a Lok Sabha ticket from Saharanpur by the Samajwadi Party (SP).
However the SP party later dropped Imran’s nomination after former Congress leader Rashid Masood threatened to contest against him if his son Shaadan was not given a ticket. Rashid’s son and Imran’s cousin Shaadan Masood was later fielded instead.
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