Amethi DM Prashant Kumar has been removed from his post after the incident. (Photo: Twitter/DM Amethi)

The District Magistrate (DM) of Amethi was removed from his position on Thursday after misbehaving with the family of a slain Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.

Amethi DM Prashant Sharma had earlier misbehaved with the cousin of deceased Vijay Kumar Singh alias Sonu Singh and a video of the entire incident went viral on social media. Locals also reacted strongly and called the behaviour by Amethi DM "insensitive".

Sharma, who was chided by Union minister Smriti Irani for his behaviour, could be seen misbehaving with Singh's cousin Sunil Singh, a trainee PCS officer.

The viral video shows that Prashant Sharma held Sunil Singh by the collar and shoved him when he was protesting against the delay in post-mortem and arrest of Sonu's killer.

After the incident went viral on social media, Smriti Irani said, "We should always try to be humble and caring. We are here to serve people not to rule."

She even tagged the district magistrate in her tweet.

Sonu Singh was shot dead in Bisundapur village in Amethi on Tuesday night over extortion.

The Amethi Police has registered a case of murder against three unidentified people in Gauriganj. Sonu Singh, owner of a brick kiln, was shot dead allegedly over extortion demand of Rs 2 lakh barely 500 metres away from the Superintendent of Police's (SP) office in Amethi on Tuesday evening.

Sonu's father Shivnayak Singh is also a local leader of the BJP. Sonu's brother Arpit Kumar Singh had accused Chandra Shekhar Kesarwani, Shubham Tiwari and three other unidentified persons in the complaint filed at Gauriganj police station after which an FIR was lodged.

This was the second controversy involving Sharma in the past one week. Sharma had arrived late for a court hearing in Amethi and the judge punished him by keeping him in custody till the evening.

(With inputs from agencies)