Two labourers and a printer have been arrested in connection with banners that came up in Lucknow on Wednesday criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and lauding chief minister Yogi Adityanath as the “brand of Hindutva”.

However, main accused Amit Jani, president of the fringe outfit Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena that is believed to have put up the banners on hoardings across the main city area, is in hiding.

The police have registered an FIR for “disturbing peace”, which carries a jail term of up to three years. Civic authorities had already lodged a case saying the banners had been put up without permission.

“Jumlebaazi ka naam Modi, Hindutva ka brand Yogi (Modi symbolises false promises, Yogi is the brand for Hindutva),” read the banners, which the police had brought down after receiving complaints from the civic body and BJP leaders.

“We have arrested (labourers) Sumit Kumar and Mohammad Ikramuddin for putting up the banners, and Manish Agrawal of Sheela Enterprises for printing them. The computer on which the banners had been designed has been seized,” said circle officer Abhay Kumar Mishra.

Sarvesh Mishra, additional superintendent of police, said: “We have formed several teams to arrest Jani.”

An employee of Sheela Enterprises, which prints only posters and banners and is owned by Agrawal, said: “We print banners and posters every day and know very well what is legal and what is not. There was nothing objectionable (in the Modi banners). Criticising the Prime Minister is not a crime. Besides, we didn't criticise anybody, we only printed the banners.”

A video clip released on Wednesday evening purportedly shows Jani justifying the banners and saying he has committed no crime.

“Modi has betrayed us. We have convened a religious parliament in Lucknow on February 10 to condemn him,” a voice says.

Jani’s immediate grudge against Modi seems to be the BJP’s defeats in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Jani had been arrested in 2016 for allegedly threatening to kill then JNU students Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid, who had been arrested on sedition charges. He is out on bail and the case is pending.

He also faces a case over the beheading of a Mayawati statue at the Ambedkar Memorial in Lucknow.

Lucknow district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma issued a notice on Thursday saying: “Those who put up banners and posters at public places without permission will be liable for punishment under the Defacement of Public Property Act, and a fine of Rs 50,000 will be realised from them.”