A first information report was registered against Aam Aadmi Party MLA Raghav Chadha on Sunday for making alleged objectionable statements about Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath over the mass migrant exodus that started after a countrywide lockdown was announced to battle coronavirus, The Indian Express reported. The FIR was filed based on a complaint by Prashant Patel, an advocate, in Noida.

Chadha alleged that migrants travelling from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh were being thrashed on the orders of Adityanath. “According to sources, Yogiji is getting migrants going from Delhi to UP beaten up,” he said in a tweet. “He is saying why did you go to Delhi and you will not be allowed to go to Delhi again. My appeal to UP government is not to do this and not to increase problems in this difficult hour.”

However, Chadha later deleted the tweet.

The lockdown has caused tens of thousands of people, mostly young daily-wage laborers but also families, to flee large cities where they have lost their source of livelihood. The mass exodus of thousands of migrant workers, who are leaving for their hometowns in bustling buses, has sparked fears about the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

On Sunday, the Narendra Modi-led central government told states and Union Territories to seal their borders, as migrant labourers attempted to return home on foot. Earlier in the day, Modi apologised to the public for imposing a three-week national lockdown, calling it harsh but saying India “needed to win” the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, Adityanath on Saturday ordered officials to keep nearly 1 lakh people who have arrived in the state in the last three days in quarantine camps for 14 days. He also instructed officials that the essential needs of people kept in quarantine must be fulfilled.

The number of Covid-19 patients who have died in India rose to 25 on Sunday morning – an increase of six since the previous government update. Sixty-one new patients were confirmed across the country, taking the number of cases to 979. Of these, 86 have now recovered.