The Charity Commission has opened statutory inquiries into two charities and police are investigating fraud at a third in the wake of an ITV documentary aired last night.

Charities Behaving Badly, part of ITV's Exposure series, last night screened footage from "almost a year" of undercover investigations into three registered charities.

The footage showed examples of extremism, religious hatred and support of terrorism.

The Commission said it has opened investigations into two of the charities featured - Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK (HSS UK) and the Global Aid Trust, an Islamic aid charity.

"Footage relating to the two registered charities raises serious regulatory concerns," said Michelle Russell, director of investigations, monitoring and enforcement at the Commission. "These will be investigated as part of the inquiries that have been opened."

In the programme trustees and supporters of the Global Aid Trust are shown making comments which appear to encourage Islamic extremism and jihad.

The chief executive of the GAT, Rizwan Hussein, resigned from his position over the allegations before the documentary was screened. Several other staff featured in the programme are believed to have left the charity.

Footage of HSS UK shows a speaker at a camp run by the telling students that Christians seek to “destroy Hindu history” and that Islam is “the worst religion in the world.”

Members of the charity at the camp also promote the work and teachings of right-wing writer M.S. Golwalkar.

The Steadfast Trust, an English national heritage organisation whose supporters have expressed racist and extreme right wing views, has been removed from the Commission's register, and police have opened a fraud investigation into individuals connected to the trust.

"The Steadfast Trust, which also features in the programme, is not a charity and has been removed from the Register of Charities," Russell said.

"This decision was made because it was not clear that the Trust’s beneficiaries, described as 'members of the Anglo-Saxon community living in England', could be identified or are a sufficient section of the public, as required in charity law."

The Steadfast Trust said in a statement on its website that it was “currently subject to a fraud investigation by the Metropolitan Police, who are scrutinizing our accounts” in a post on its website on February 10.

It said the police investigation was a result of: “undercover footage obtained by a reporter in 2014 both at events and within the property of a Steadfast trustee”.

The statement also confirmed that trustee Tim Hawke “has been suspended pending an internal investigation.”

Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK

A spokesman from HSS UK said: 'The depiction of us as anti any other religion is wrong and counterproductive to the positive work HSS has done in building interfaith relations.

"Our training camp is attended by a cross section of society and we try to give our volunteers an opportunity to discuss their opinions and understand all views.”

The spokesman did go on to confirm however that the HSS would be investigating the teacher who made the comments.

Global Aid Trust

A statement from the charity says the GAT: “firmly condemns and reject comments” made by Mr Shabbar and the external speakers.

It adds: “We express our great regret at these incidents, which were the result of a process failure in the organisation.”

Steadfast Trust

A statement from the Trust said: “The Steadfast Trust is not and has never been political in its aims and we are perplexed by the suggestion it has become the focal point of the far right.”