In an embarrassment to the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, the police have arrested a party leader and four of his relatives for allegedly slaughtering a cow at his home in Tonkkhurd in Dewas district, The Indian Express reported. 

According to the report, the party "quickly expelled" Anwar Mev alias Anna, who was associated with the party’s minority cell in Dewas, for "the major crime" on Thursday. Beef was found in his house during a raid which was conducted on Wednesday, a party leader told IE. 

While those arrested were sent to judicial custody by a local magistrate, two more accused were taken into custody. Meanwhile, the police is on a lookout for the three remaining accused. 

Anwar and nine others have been booked under the state’s anti-cow slaughter law and sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals law.

Investigating Officer Vijay Sisodia told IE, "The veterinary hospital has prima facie found it to be cow meat. We will wait for the laboratory report from Mathura". He further said that though the accused claimed that the meat was not beef, the slaughter licence that Mev held had expired a long time ago. 

"It did not matter what responsibility he had but we quickly expelled him after he committed a major crime," Dewas district BJP chief Gopikrishna Vyas told the newspaper.