Nine persons have been arrested in Nagapattinam district on the charge of speaking ill of a particular community and uploading it on a social media platform with the intention of instigating communal unrest.
The incident allegedly took place at Eduthukatti Sathanur area in Porayar police station limits on April 21 when the accused, all Dalits, made derogatory comments against Vanniyars.
A police press release identified the arrested persons as S. Premkumar, 29, R. Premkumar, 29, K. Gowthaman, K. John Bose, 21, K. Johnson,28, A. Anand Babu,20, K. Veerapandian,20, M. Mathivanan,23, and A. Felix Bharathi,21.
They were arrested for trying to instigate caste clash in the wake of the violence at Ponparappi village in Ariyalur district on the day of polling.
Nagapattinam Superintendent of Police C. Vijaya Kumar warned that criminal action would be initiated against those spreading caste-related problems and false information in the social media, the release added.
Meanwhile, Gugan, 26, of Kothamangalam, Pudukottai district, was arrested for forwarding a WhatsApp message insinuating the involvement of Ayyasamy, 27, of Thiruchitrambalam near Pattukottai in the audio clip in which two unidentified persons had allegedly made derogatory comments against the Mutherayar community.
The audio clip circulated in the messaging platform had led to violence in Ponnmaravathi recently.
Ayyasamy, in a complaint with the police a few days ago, had stated that his name had been deliberately linked to the audio clip. Gugan was arrested on Monday night and remanded to judicial custody, police said.