Controversial BJP lawmaker Sangeet Som has claimed that unidentified assailants fired shots and hurled a hand grenade at his high-security bungalow early on Thursday with the intention of killing him before escaping in their car.

“We had noticed a Swift car was following my fleet in the night when I was returning to my bungalow at around 1am. Later, while I was relaxing in my house, I heard the sound of firing. I rushed out and saw the CRPF jawans, deployed for my security, running in all directions. The attackers escaped in their car,” Som, MLA from Sardhana, Meerut, said.

Som, who enjoys Z-category security cover, is accused of spreading rumours on social media sites to create hatred during the 2013 riots in Muzaffarnagar that adjoins Meerut.

The legislator, charged with uploading a fake video of the violence that left over 50 people dead and displaced thousands, had been arrested then before being released on bail after a few weeks.

Police found the shell of a hand grenade without explosives from the campus of the Mall Road bungalow in the Cantonment area of Meerut city, 580km west of Lucknow.

Prashant Kumar, additional director-general of police, Meerut zone, said five constables in the MLA’s security detail had been suspended for dereliction of duty and the police were reviewing his security.

“We have seen the bullet marks on the walls of the bungalow of the MLA. An empty hand grenade was also recovered from there. The police are doing extensive combing to nab the attackers,” Akhilesh Kumar, senior superintendent of police, Meerut, said.

“We have deployed more forces at the residence. A forensic team and a dog squad are at work to investigate the case.”

Sanjeev Bharati, one of the four constables on duty at the gate, said the car stopped at the entrance and half a dozen attackers, their faces covered, opened fire at the house. “One of the assailants in a black T-shirt almost entered the gate. Then he threw the hand grenade and retracted after seeing the CRPF jawans. Then all of them ran away in their car.”

None of the guards were hurt.

The Samajwadi Party government, which had charged Som with uploading the fake video of the Muzaffarnagar violence in August 2013, had given him 11 security guards, including a commando, under Y-category security.

The Narendra Modi government had upgraded the security in 2015 to Z-category cover “on the basis of a report of Local Intelligence Unit of Uttar Pradesh police”.

The upgrade meant 22 security personnel, including commandos of the National Security Guard and the CRPF.

If the government upgrades the cover to Z-plus, Som will have 55 security personnel to guard him.