MADURAI: The Cybercrime unit of Madurai police arrested Tamil Nadu BJP state secretary S G Suryah late on Friday night,
According to the police sources, the action was taken based on a complaint
A police complaint was filed against S G Suryah by the Madurai Urban unit of CPI(M). They accused him of tarnishing the image of CPI(M) MP Su Venkatesan on social media and sought action against SG Suryah.
His arrest comes days after he accused a Communist ward councillor named Viswanathan of being responsible for the death of a hygiene worker.
In his tweet, the BJP State Secretary pointed out, “Madurai Pennadam town panchayat 12th ward councillor Viswanathan had forced the worker to undertake the job after which the worker got infected and died. The hypocritical politics of the MP stinks.”
The BJP leader had also written a strongly-worded letter to CPI(M) MP Su Venkatesan, complaining about the death of the worker and questioning his silence on the matter.
“Suryah is intentionally creating tension among the conservancy workers as well as the public on an incident that did not happen in the city. The BJP functionary is creating tension,” the Communist Party of India (Marxist) claimed.
The Communist party workers claimed that there is no councillor by the name of Vishwanathan or any ‘Pennadam town panchayat’ in the Madurai district.
Based on the complaint, Suryah was arrested under sections of IPC and the IT Act, police said.
Meanwhile, the party's state unit chief K Annamalai slammed the move as an attempt to "curtail free speech.
"The arrest of @BJP4TamilNadu State Secretary Thiru @SuryahSG avl is highly condemnable.
His only mistake was to expose the nasty double standards of the communists, allies of DMK.
Using state machinery to curtail free speech & getting jittery for the slightest criticism is unbecoming of a democratically elected leader and, indeed, are signs of an autocratic leader in the making," Annamalai tweeted.
"These arrests will not deter us & we will continue to be bearers of the uncomfortable truth!" he added.