A special team of police from Madurai on Saturday
arrested Tamil Nadu BJP Secretary S.G.Suryah for allegedly posting some
remarks in the social media aimed at creating social tensions, triggering
strong condemnation from top party leaders including Union Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman and party State Chief K.Annamalai.
Police sources said he was arrested for a social media post for allegedly
vilifying Madurai Lok Sabha CPI(M) MP Su.Venkatesan.
Acting on a complaint from CPI(M) Madurai Urban Unit District Secretary
M.Ganesan, a team of the Cyber Crime police from Madurai arrested Suryah
from his residence in Chennai after booking him under various Sections of the
IPC including 153-A (wanton vilification upon particular group), 504 (insulting
someone intentionally to provoke), 505(1)(b) (induce any person to commit
offence against State or public tranquility), 505(1)(c) (inciting community of
persons to commit any offence against any other community) and under the
provisions of the Information Technology Act.
He was later taken to Madurai and produced before a Judicial Magistrate
Court and remanded in judicial custody.
In his complaint to the Madurai City Commissioner of Police, Ganesan said
Suryah had posted a false message on a social media platform on June 10
in which he had alleged that Viswanathan, Councillor of Ward 12 of Madurai
Pennadam Town panchayat had forced a cleanliness worker to clean water
mixed with human faeces.
The worker, belonging to Scheduled Caste community, had later died due to
an allergy and the CPI(M) MP Venkatesan was maintaining a stoic silence
on the issue, Mr. Suryah had said in his post.
Ganesan also claimed that Madurai district did not have a Town panchayat
named Pennadam and there was no Councillor named Viswanthan. Similarly,
no such incident involving the death of a cleanliness worker had been reported
and Mr.Suryah had created social tensions by spreading rumours with the
intention of inciting caste clash.
