Former Uttar Pradesh Governor Aziz Qureshi was charged with sedition on Sunday for allegedly making derogatory remarks against the Adityanath-led state government, reported PTI.

The police filed a first information report against him in Rampur district based on Bharatiya Janata Party leader Akash Kumar Saxena’s complaint.

Apart from the sedition charge, the police have also invoked sections of the Indian Penal Code related to promoting enmity on the grounds of race and religion, making assertions prejudicial to national integration, and making statements intended to cause fear and alarm to the public.

Saxena alleged that Qureshi had compared the Adityanath government to a “blood-sucking demon”. The former governor had made the comments after visiting Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khan’s house and meeting his wife Tazeen Fatma.

The complainant said that the remarks could lead to communal tension and cause unrest in the state.

Khan has been accused of falsifying the age on the documents of his son Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan. The Samajwadi Party leader’s son, Abdullah Azam Khan, is also an accused in the case.

Both the MP and his son were arrested in the case in February 2020.

On August 10, the Supreme Court had granted them bail, and directed that the two should be released after a trial court in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur records Azam Khan’s statement on the matter within four weeks.

After meeting Khan’s family, Qureshi had said that the state government should be ashamed of itself. He had also alleged that the government had tortured Khan.

“I do not need to say anything about the torture and atrocities done by this government on Azam Bhai,” the former governor said, according to News18.

He added: “I had come to tell the family to have courage...The devil and the blood-drinking monster are on one side and human beings are on one side. We are watching what is happening.”

About his complaint against Khan, Saxena said that Qureshi’s remarks showed his “Talibani mindset”, according to News18.

“Some people want to make the state like the Taliban, but their intentions will never be fulfilled,” he added.

However, Qureshi later claimed that he had been misquoted in an attempt to harm him politically and mislead the public, according to ANI.

“I had said that there haven’t been as much atrocities in earlier days as today,” he said. “I haven’t made any remarks against anyone.”