Three men have been arrested for allegedly shouting “desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro… (shoot the traitors)” in Calcutta while marching to Union home minister Amit Shah’s rally at the Shahid Minar ground on Sunday.

The three were part of a group that was allegedly shouting the slogan, apparently directed at those protesting the new citizenship regime, while walking through JL Nehru Road and Chowringhee Road.

The slogan is considered one of the triggers for the violence in Delhi that left more than 40 people dead and thousands of homes destroyed.

The three who were picked up from their homes were Surendra Kumar Tiwari, a member of the state executive committee of the BJP Basti Unnayan Cell; Pankaj Prasad, a member of the BJP youth wing in Bhowanipore; and Dhruba Bose, 71, who family members said has been a “hardcore RSS supporter”.

Bose has been granted bail because of his age. The others have been remanded in police custody for two days.

Police commissioner Anuj Sharma said: “We will not tolerate any form of incitement.”

He issued a statement saying: “Some persons allegedly shouted provocative slogans having potential to disturb public tranquillity yesterday from a procession while going to attend a political rally. A complaint was received at New Market police station and a specific case under sections 153A, 505, 506 and 34 IPC was registered at New Market police station.

“The video footage of the said procession was analysed and the persons shouting the provocative slogans identified. Raids were held yesterday night and three of the identified persons have been arrested of whom two have been granted police custody by the court. Further raids to arrest the remaining accused persons are on. In recent past, Calcutta has seen a number of rallies, meetings, processions by different political parties, groups, organisations each representing their viewpoint. The situation in the city has remained completely peaceful.”

Sharma said the officers in charge of all police stations had been asked to take “strong legal action” against any person trying to “provoke or instigate in any way which may lead to breach of peace”.

Sources said video clips show more than 20 men had shouted incendiary slogans.

Most of them were allegedly not at home on Sunday night or Monday morning.

The lawyers representing the accused alleged the police had wrongfully slapped IPC Section 153A on them. “Does the slogan mention any community or religion? It only talks about the traitors. Then how could the police relate it to religious or communal incitement?” said Siddhartha Shankar Roy, one of the defence lawyers.

A section of the police said they had been asked to practice “zero tolerance” towards any incitement. “We can not take chances after what happened in Delhi,” an officer said.