The Madhya Pradesh government will issue a showcause notice to IAS officer Niyaz Khan for his tweets on The Kashmir Files, home minister Narottam Mishra said on Wednesday.

In one of the tweets, Khan, deputy secretary with the state public works department, had last week urged the makers of the film to also make a movie on the “killings of a large number of Muslims across several states” in India, and said members of the minority community were “not insects, but citizens of the country”.

Talking to reporters in Bhopal on Wednesday, Mishra said: “I have seen Khan’s tweets. This is a serious issue… he is crossing and violating the Lakshman rekha (limit) set for (government) officials.… The state government will issue a showcause notice to him and seek his reply.”

The Kashmir Files depicts what it calls a “genocide” of Pandits in the Valley. The film has received overwhelming support from the BJP and the Right wing. The movie has been used to target the BJP’s political opponents and vilify Muslims.

Madhya Pradesh is among the several BJP-ruled states that have exempted The Kashmir Files from entertainment tax.

Khan had said he was planning to write a book highlighting the “massacre of Muslims” so that a movie could be produced by someone to bring out the “pain and suffering of minorities” before Indians.

Later, he had appealed to The Kashmir Files producer to use the earnings from the movie to educate the children of Kashmiri Pandits and construct homes for them in the Valley.

After Khan’s tweets became viral, Files director Vivek Agnihotri had sought an appointment with the IAS officer for “exchanging ideas”.

Later, Madhya Pradesh medical education minister Vishwas Sarang had said he would write a letter against Khan to the personnel department, alleging that the IAS officer was talking about “firqaparasti (sectarianism)”.