THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The cyber police on Sunday arrested the managing director-cum-chief editor of a controversial Malayalam web portal that is accused of running anti-Muslim content.
Vince Mathew of Karma News was arrested when he landed at Thiruvananthapuram airport. The police had issued a lookout notice against him.
A police source said Vince held an Australian passport and was returning to Kerala when he was detained by immigration officials.
A resident of Perth in Australia, Vince has about three criminal cases registered against him in Kerala, two by Thiruvananthapuram city cyber police and one by Wayanad police.
The Thiruvananthapuram cyber police had booked him for publishing contents claiming that Hamas supporters in Kerala were behind the explosion during a convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses at Kalamassery in Kochi in October 2023 that left eight dead.
The police probe had found that Dominic Martin, a former member of the group, had committed the crime out of spite towards the outfit.
The second case against Vince was registered over a report on the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF), in which he cast aspersions on its use.
The news was published after the Wayanad landslides and he was charged under the Disaster Management Act apart from other relevant sections of the IT Act.
The Wayanad cyber police had registered a case against him last year for claiming that international terrorist outfits were pumping in money into Wayanad and were patronising sports turfs mushrooming in the district.
A senior officer with the Thiruvananthapuram city police said it was based on the lookout notice issued by Wayanad police that Vince was detained at the airport.
Later, it was found that he had two cases registered against him in Thiruvananthapuram and hence the city police took him into custody. The sections against Mathew are non-bailable.
IN THE DOCK
Vince has about three criminal cases registered against him in Kerala.The Thiruvananthapuram cyber police had booked him for publishing contents claiming that Hamas supporters in Kerala were behind the explosion during a convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses at Kalamassery in Kochi in October 2023