COIMBATORE: DMK State General Council Member S Murugan was arrested in the city on Sunday for allegedly sharing defamatory content against Municipal Administration and Rural Development Minister SP Velumani and the State government through WhatsApp.
He was booked under provisions of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Information Technology (IT) Act and was remanded for 15 days under judicial custody on Sunday afternoon.
According to the police, the suspect, a resident of Angannan Layout on 80 Feet Road in Olympus near Ramanathapuram in city, had shared a defamatory content against the State government, Minister SP Velumani and his brother SP Anbarasan. He had reportedly received the content from one Ramamoorthy in his private chat and later allegedly shared it in a WhatsApp group named 'Olympus Nanbargal' on Saturday.
The same day, P Gowtham (24) a resident of Ramanathapuram and AIADMK Area Secretary who is a member of the group lodged a complaint against Murugan for sharing the content.
The Ramanathapuram police registered a case on Murugan under section 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505 (b) (1) (Whoever makes circulates any statement, rumour or report with intent to cause to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquillity) of IPC and section 66 (E) (Punishment for violation of privacy) of IT Act. Murugan was remanded under judicial custody for 15 days on Saturday afternoon, said a police official.
Prior to his arrest, the DMK functionary was detained by the police at around 1 am on Sunday from his residence and was taken to Ramanathapuram police station.
Soon, a group of DMK cadre gathered in front of the police station who alleged that Murugan was arrested based on a false complaint.