Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from South Delhi, Naresh Yadav, has been named in an FIR related to alleged desecration of the Quran in Punjab's Malerkotla.

Sangrur police booked him on Saturday after the alleged mastermind of the desecration, Vijay Kumar, claimed he committed the crime at the behest of Yadav and that he was offered Rs 1 crore for carrying out the act.

Vijay Kumar alleged he met Yadav in Delhi and was told to tear the pages of Quran and throw them near a drain on Khanna road in Malerkotla, a Muslim-dominated town in Punjab.

Kumar said the intention was to create communal tension in Punjab ahead of 2017 polls and instigate people on communal lines so that they vote for AAP.

Yadav has been booked under sections 109 and 153-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which deal with abetment and causing enmity between two groups on grounds of religion.

Malerkotla remained tense on June 25, with miscreants burning vehicles and damaging property after torn pages of the Muslim holy book were found in a cemetery.

The development comes just three days ahead of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal trip to Punjab to launch AAP's poll campaign. Party spokesperson Sanjay Singh defended Yadav saying there were political motives behind the FIR.

"SAD-BJP can see their defeat clearly in the upcoming polls, so our MLA is being falsely implicated to defame AAP. It is political vendetta," Singh said.

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