A Samajwadi Party worker was nabbed on Saturday for allegedly instigating an elderly Muslim man to claim in a video that he was beaten up by four youths who also chopped his beard and asked him to chant "Jai Shri Ram" in Loni area of Ghaziabad.

Ummaid Pehelwan Idrisi, who was missing since Wednesday when an FIR was lodged against him at the Loni Border police station, was booked from Delhi on Saturday, a Ghaziabad police official said.

"The accused, identified as Ummaid Pehelwan, was held near the LNJP hospital in Delhi by a team of Ghaziabad police. After his arrest there, he is being brought to Ghaziabad for further proceedings in the case," Ghaziabad Senior Superintendent of Police Amit Pathak told reporters.

The FIR, filed against Mr Idrisi on the complaint of a local policeman, alleged that he had "unnecessarily" made the video -- in which Abdul Shamad Saifi narrates his ordeal. It was made with an intention to "create social disharmony" and shared it through his Facebook account, the FIR said.

A separate FIR was lodged against him on Thursday evening in Bulandshahr district that charged him and around 100 others with violation of the COVID-19 norms by holding a public gathering on June 16, the officials said.

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