Ten members of a Hindutva outfit, Hindu Raksha Dal, have been arrested for distributing swords in Shalimar Garden colony of Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, the police said on Monday.

Shalimar Garden Assistant Police Commissioner Atul Kumar Singh said that a first information report has been registered against 16 identified persons and 25-30 unidentified persons.

Bhupendra Chaudhary, alias Pinki, the national president of the Hindu Raksha Dal, is among those named in the FIR, Hindustan Times quoted Singh as saying. He is absconding.

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The arrests were made after videos started circulating on social media showing members of the Hindutva group displaying and handing out swords.

“The way our Hindu brothers have been killed in Bangladesh…Hindus should keep swords to defend themselves,” Chaudhary was heard saying in one of the videos.

“The Hindu Raksha Dal will respond to every single jihadist in his own language,” he added.

Chaudhary was referring to the killing of Dipu Chandra Das, a factory worker, who was beaten to death by a mob in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh district on December 18 after being accused of blasphemy.

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According to the FIR, members of the Hindu Raksha Dal also shouted communal slogans while rallying through the area with weapons, PTI reported.

The case has been filed under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections pertaining to rioting, rioting with deadly weapons and wrongful confinement, along with provisions of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, Hindustan Times quoted the police as saying.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Nimish Patil said more charges could be added based on evidence and that efforts were underway to trace the remaining accused, PTI reported.

“Police will not permit any outfit to disturb harmony and law and order,” he added.