T Raja Singh was suspended from the Bharatiya Janata Party and taken into custody on Tuesday after he allegedly made controversial remarks against Islam and Prophet Mohammed in a video which was later pulled down by the social media platform on which it was uploaded.

On Monday, the BJP MLA uploaded the video criticising stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui, who performed in Hyderabad last week. Singh also made derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed and Islam in the video.

After receiving several complaints, police took him into custody on Tuesday. He was booked under various sections of IPC pertaining to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs and criminal intimidation among others.

He was also suspended from the BJP and the party sought his reply within 10 days as to why he should not be expelled.

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Who is T Raja Singh?

Born on April 15, 1977, T Raja Singh is a member of the Telangana Legislative Assembly representing the Goshamahal assembly constituency in Hyderabad.

He was a member of the Telugu Desam Party but later joined the BJP and served as the party’s whip in Telangana.

Raja Singh has made several anti-Muslim remarks in the past.

In 2020, he was banned by Facebook and Instagram for allegedly promoting hate.

“We have banned Raja Singh from Facebook for violating our policy prohibiting those that promote or engage in violence and hate from having a presence on our platform,” a Facebook spokesperson had said in a statement at the time. 

In February this year, he was issued a notice by the Election Commission after he allegedly threatened people to vote for BJP in Uttar Pradesh. 

He was once again in news in July when he escaped from the flash flood near the holy cave shrine of Amarnath.

On August 20, 2022, he was detained by the Hyderabad police after he threatened to beat up comedian Munawwar Farooqui if he hosted a show in the city.