A special team of the Tamil Nadu Police on Saturday arrested Prashant Kumar, 32, a native of Bihar, in Jharkhand on the charge of spreading fake news that migrant workers were attacked in Tiruppur.
City Police Commissioner Praveen Kumar Abhinapu said a special team, headed by cybercrime unit inspector L. Sornavalli, had traced the accused — who used a Facebook profile, ‘Prakash Kumar’, to share the video clips — to Jharkhand. After the videos were circulated, the police registered a case against him on March 8 under various sections 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 505 (ii) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) of the Indian Penal Code.
Another team, led by Thirumuruganpoondi inspector V. Jegananthan, went to Jharkhand and arrested Prashant Kumar, who hails from the Bakhari Barai panchayat in Vaishali district of Bihar. The police produced him before the sub-divisional judicial magistrate at Latehar in Jharkhand and brought him to Tiruppur on a transit warrant.
He was produced before the third judicial magistrate court and remanded in judicial custody on Sunday.
“Four cases have so far been registered in connection with the rumours about the safety of migrant workers. Two persons have been arrested. The investigation is under way in the other cases,” a senior police officer said.
On March 6, the police arrested Rupesh Kumar, 23, of East Champaran district of Bihar, for sharing a fake video clip on the social media. He was arrested at Wanaparthy district in Telangana. He was produced before the judicial magistrate in Tiruppur and sent to judicial remand the next day, the police said.
Mr. Abhinapu said, “The cybercrime unit monitors the online activities of those spreading fake news, rumours and hatred. We also send inputs to officials in other States for swift action.”
