Chennai, Sept. 25: A case has been registered against Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Ram Vilas Vedanti, who allegedly issued a ‘fatwa’ against Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief M Karunanidhi.

The case was filed last night on a complaint by a city resident, Dhananchezhian.

Vendanti has been charged for "promoting enmity between various communities, committing acts prejudicial to maintaining communal harmony and making statement conducive to public mischief," police said.

Earlier, Vedanti, who denied having issued any 'fatwa’, had said that he had simply quoted the religious books on the punishment prescribed for blasphemy.

Chief Minister Karunanidhi, a self claimed atheist, had recently said Lord Ram was a fallacy as tall as the Himalayas.

Meanwhile, sixteen DMK activists have been remanded to 15 days judicial custody, in connection with the attacks on the Chennai offices of the BJP and the Hindu Munnani on Sunday.

Hindu groups are already up in arms over the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project.

They have called on the government to stop the project, saying it would demolish a mythical bridge linking India and Sri Lanka, believed to have been built by Lord Ram.

Opposing the 560 million dollars project, they say it would destroy the Ram Setu, a 48-kilometer chain of limestone shoals that once linked Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu to Mannar in Sri Lanka. (With Inputs from ANI)