Bob Blackman calls on UK police to investigate ‘utterly depraved video’ targeting Modi

TOI correspondent from London: A British MP is calling on the UK police to investigate a video by an extremist group, which has resurfaced about a year later on social media, showing inflammatory content about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The video has triggered outrage among the Indian diaspora.

The video from a year ago has already gone viral among Hindus in Leicester East, the scene of the 2022 Leicester riots, Vinod Popat, convenor of Hindu Community Organisations Group, told TOI. He said he was worried it could incite unrest among Hindus.

MP Bob Blackman re-tweeted the video, describing it as “utterly depraved” and amounting to “incitement”. “As Chair of the APPG for British Hindus, I am demanding that the police investigate this footage immediately and that the Crown Prosecution Service considers charges,” he said.

Dr Alan Mendoza, executive director, Henry Jackson Society, said: “The material now circulating is reckless and inflammatory… it is extreme theatre that is likely to intimidate and provoke. Whether it crosses the criminal threshold is for police and the CPS, but UK law can apply to threatening or hate inciting online content. Police should be assessing both the original posts and their renewed circulation…”

The video shows British-born activist Shakeel Afsar spouting inflammatory words. The video and similar posts are from the Instagram account of a Birmingham Muslim group called “Deen1fied” and were first posted in May 2025. It is not clear what caused them to resurface.

Popat has shared the material with East Leicester police.

A Leicester police spokesman told TOI: “Officers have been in contact with colleagues from West Midlands police regarding the content.”