The Andhra Pradesh police have arrested a Hyderabad-based techie on charges of posting objectionable content on social media site, Facebook. The content, posted on the FB page “Political Punch”, reportedly has objectionable pictures with the building of the Legislative Council at Velagapudi in the backdrop.
The arrested man has been identified as Inturi Ravi Kiran, a graphic designer from Cyberabad.
Superintendent of Police, Guntur Rural, K. Narayan Naik said a special police team picked up Mr. Ravi Kiran from his house at Shamshabad. The arrest followed a complaint lodged by State Assembly Secretary K. Satyanarayana.
The police slapped cases under Section 67 of the IT Act and 291 of the Indian Penal Code for posting objectionable and derogatory comments.
The accused reportedly said he worked for the social media wing of a political party and was paid ₹ 25,000 per month. The Guntur police said he would be produced in the court on Saturday.
Shared on WhatsApp
The FB page allegedly has pictures of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and his son and Minister for IT Nara Lokesh in the backdrop of a picture of the Legislative Council. Police sources said the page has been shared on WhatsApp. The image was forwarded to the Assembly Secretary by a Telugu Desam Party MLC.
The arrest comes in the wake of many statements from Ministers in the State on the need to curb such malicious content on FB. The Andhra Pradesh CID police had in the past arrested a man from Hyderabad for allegedly posting defamatory content on Hudhud cyclone on his FB page.
