Bharatiya Kisan Union spokesperson Rakesh Tikait has given a written complaint to Ghaziabad police asking that Union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra Teni be booked on the charge of publicly insulting him as a “do kauri ka admi (worthless person)”.

Tikait recently led a 72-hour dharna to pressure the Centre to sack and arrest Teni in a more serious case – his son Ashis allegedly mowing down four farmers and a journalist with the minister’s jeep in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 last year.

Naresh Yadav, a district-level BKU leader, submitted Tikait’s complaint with the office of Ghaziabad superintendent of police Nipun Agarwal on Wednesday.

“Insulting someone is a crime. We want the police to book Teni,” Yadav said. Agarwal said: “The matter will be inquired into before a case is registered.”A video circulated on social media on Tuesday purportedly has Teni saying: “I know Rakesh Tikait very well, he is a do kauri ka admi.”

The video appears to have been shot while Teni was addressing supporters at his office in Lakhimpur Kheri, his parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh.Teni on Wednesday said: “I don’t have any ill-will against anybody. My statement was quoted out of context.”

Reacting to Teni’s purported remark, Tikait told reporters in Muzaffarnagar on Tuesday that the minister was angry because “his son is in jail because of us” on murder and other charges.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella group of farmer unions including Tikait’s, has long been demanding Teni’s arrest on charges of criminal conspiracy, saying the car carnage occurred after farmers had held a protest against the minister, and days after Teni had threatened them.