A man accused in several cases of cow vigilantism has been arrested with four associates after they allegedly disrupted peace at a shopping mall where a Christmas tree had been installed.

Puneeth Kerehalli, who heads the Rashtra Rakshana Pade (National Defence Force), and his associates are accused of confronting security staff at the Mall of Asia in north Bangalore on Saturday and asking why it had been decorated.

The mall’s assistant manager for security, Stephen Victor, said that when the group was told this was a Christmas decoration, Puneeth asked whether the mall was decorated in a similar manner to mark Hindu festivals.

Victor said the group demanded that the mall be decked out suitably to mark the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22. They allegedly ignored the security staff’s requests to leave and used a loudspeaker to dissuade shoppers from entering the mall.

The group also asked why the mall, where entry is normally free, was charging Rs 200 to admit shoppers.

Mall sources have told local media the entry fee is being charged to control the size of the festive season crowd and avert any damage to the giant Christmas tree installed inside.

A video clip posted on Puneeth’s Facebook page appears to show him arguing with the mall’s security over the Christmas tree. Several men are seen intermittently chanting “Jai Shri Ram” as the security staff try to explain that it is a Christmas decoration.

However, another video posted later on the same page shows three men — apparently members of the Rashtra Rakshana Pade — claiming the group’s main objection was to the mall collecting the Rs 200 entry fee.

The three youths argue that many poor shoppers had turned up from far and wide only to return from the gates, unable to afford the entry fee.

All five accused have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 505(1)(C) (intent to incite any class or community to commit offence), 505(1)(B) (likely to induce any person to commit offence against state or public tranquillity), 506 (criminal intimidation), 341 (wrongful restraint), 143 (unlawful assembly), 149 (common object), and 298 (uttering words to wound religious feelings). They were on Saturday sent to 14 days’ judicial custody.

The previous case against Puneeth involved the lynching of a cattle transporter, Idrees Pasha, in April. Puneethand four others had been arrested on murder and other charges after Pasha, 38, was found dead in Sathanur, Ramanagara, some 150km from here.

Pasha’s mini-truck, which was carrying 16 heads of cattle, had been intercepted and he had been assaulted while two of his companions escaped.

Puneeth and the co-accused in the murder case had fled Karnataka but were held in Banswara in Rajasthan and brought back. They were later granted bail.

Karnataka, long considered Hindutva’s southern laboratory, has witnessed a fall in vigilantism since the Congress came to power in May.

In one of their first instructions to the police, chief minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D.K. Shivakumar had sought a crackdown on activities by Right-wing groups of all hues.

Several Sangh Parivar and Muslim vigilantes have since been arrested for offences ranging from attacking interfaith couples to cow vigilantism.