MORADABAD: A man and his nephew have been arrested and sent to jail by the Uttar Pradesh Police on charges of sedition.
The two had allegedly sent a message on WhatsApp to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amit Pathak, with pro-Pakistan slogans and derogatory remarks about a particular community. The message had the Pakistan flag along with the slogan "Pakistan Zindabad".
The FIR has been lodged under sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups), 124 A (sedition), 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship) of IPC, and relevant sections of the IT Act.
Public relation officer at the office of the SSP, Inspector Harendra Singh, said the police chief instructed the Civil Lines Station House Officer to lodge a FIR and investigate the matter.
Station House Officer (Civil Lines) Inspector Naval Marwah said they put the sender's phone number under surveillance and tracked down the owner.
"We learnt that the uncle wanted to contest the upcoming Panchayat elections against a former Block Development Committee (BDC) member. His nephew used the latter's photograph as display picture on the WhatsApp number, and sent the message in the hope that his uncle's opponent would be arrested and his image would be tarnished," the police official said.
The SHO also said they have recovered the mobile phone from the nephew's wife. Upon interrogation, the nephew revealed that his uncle had used his mobile to forward the message to the SSP.
The uncle, however, said he had sent the message to his nephew, who forwarded it to the SSP.