Defence analyst Abhijit Iyer Mitra on Thursday apologised to the Odisha Assembly Speaker Pradip Amat for his remarks about the Konark Temple, for which he was arrested last month, ANI reported.

A six-member House committee had summoned Iyer Mitra on October 11 over his alleged breach of privilege and “derogatory remarks”. He did not appear before the committee on Thursday, and has been summoned again on October 23.

Mitra was arrested in New Delhi on September 20, days after he posted a video from the temple on Twitter. Pointing to the erotic sculptures of couples in various stages of intimacy at the temple complex, Mitra said: “Can this be a holy place? Not at all. This is a conspiracy against Hindus by Muslims who want to keep us down. Jai Sriram. In our new Ram temple, such obscene sculptures will not be there.”

Soon after, in another tweet, he clarified that it was a joke. “Jokes aside this temple is just mindblowing,” he wrote. “The sculptures are exquisite and it has a great sense of symmetry and gravitas.”

His comments caused an uproar in the Odisha Assembly. A lower court in Delhi granted him bail on a surety of Rs 1 lakh. On October 4, the Supreme Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea and had said jail was the “safest place” for him.