Techie from Tamil Nadu arrested for spreading false news against DMK

COIMBATORE: The Tirupur rural cybercrime police on Tuesday arrested a 52-year-old IT employee, who was a right-wing supporter, for spreading fake news against the DMK on social media.
Police said B Saravana Prasad, a native of Bharathiyar Street Extension at Pazhavanthangal in Kancheepuram district, was arrested based on a complaint lodged by DMK youth wing organiser E Balasubramaniam, 32, of Kunnankalpalayam near Veerapandi in Palladam, on May 29.
The DMK functionary approached police after Prasad posted a paper cutting on his twitter account the same day, stating five DMK cadres, including women, were arrested for distilling illicit arrack on the premises of a government school near Avinashi in Tirupur district. The tweet went viral on social media.
Meanwhile, DMK cadres came to know that the news was published in a vernacular daily in 2021. “Prasad edited the news and circulated it on social media with an intention of creating wrong image about the DMK and its members among the public,” Balasubramaniam said.
The cybercrime police registered a case against Prasad under sections 153 and 505(1)(b) of the Indian Penal Code and nabbed him from the Coimbatore railway station around 1.50pm on Tuesday while he was trying to board a passenger train to Mettupalayam.
Police said Prasad was staying along with his wife in a rental house at Coonoor in the Nilgiris district.
Police arrested him and produced him before a judicial magistrate, who remanded him in judicial custody. He was subsequently lodged in the Tirupur district jail.