Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Thursday termed Union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra Teni’s behaviour “shameful” and called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately sack him.

Soren, while speaking to journalists after the first day of the winter session of Jharkhand’s Assembly, said: “The government is trying to brush aside the entire episode (the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre of farmers) by telling it is ‘sub judice’, but they should also clarify if the suspension of the Union minister for such behaviour should also be decided by court.”

Terming the behaviour of Teni shameful, Soren said: “The minister should be asked what is his morality in still continuing as a minister even after the video (of Teni misbehaving with journalists) has gone viral. Even the Prime Minister should be asked in such a situation who should take the decision to sack the minister.”

The chief minister further said that not only the media but also all sections of the society were pained by such behaviour of the minister. “We all are pained by the behaviour of the minister. But ultimately a decision on his continuing in the chair would have to be taken by the BJP,” said Soren.

A video had emerged purportedly showing Teni snatching a reporter’s mobile phone and advancing menacingly on another and shouting expletives after being asked to comment on a special investigation team’s finding that the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre was “pre-planned”.

Teni’s son Ashish Mishra is among 13 people arrested after a Thar jeep belonging to the minister led a convoy in mowing down four farmers and a journalist near Teni’s home in Lakhimpur Kheri district on October 3.

On Tuesday, charges of rash driving and causing death by negligence against the accused were replaced with the charge of an attempt to murder after the SIT told the court that the killings were planned.