Police in Yadgir, north Karnataka, have arrested two youths over a social media video clip in which they warned about beheading anyone who criticised Prophet Mohammed, as the state’s cops continued the crackdown on hate speech that began after the Congress came to power in May.

The police arrested Akbar Sayyad Bahadur Ali, 23, and Mohammed Ayaz, 21, late on Tuesday evening based on the video they had allegedly uploaded on Instagram.

While Ali is an employee of a private company and is active on Instagram, Ayaz runs a chicken shop in Yadgir, some 500km from here.

Yadgir police superintendent C.B. Vedamurthy told reporters that the two youths have been booked under IPC Sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and 505 (2) (any statement creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes).

Some Hindutva activists had on Tuesday brought the social media posts to the attention of the police and demanded the duo’s arrest.

A largely peaceful district in terms of communal issues, Yadgir is in the region that also includes Raichur, Bidar, Gulbarga and Koppal districts.

The state police have been on an overdrive to control hate speech by nabbing all suspects at the earliest without giving them any leeway.

The police in the coastal Karnataka districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi have already arrested and booked several Sangh parivar activists in cases related to moral policing and hate crimes such as intercepting interfaith couples.

The Congress government that took over in May had directed the police not to spare anyone indulging in hate speech or hate crimes, irrespective of their religious background.