Kalaburagi (Karnataka), Aug 13 (PTI) A 23-year-old man hailing from Uttar Pradesh has been arrested in connection with alleged “anti-national” activities on social media, police said on Thursday.
The accused has been identified as Mohammad Sameer, a native of Sadarpur village in Sitapur district of UP, they said.
Police said the man came here about eight ago and has been working as a labourer.
He was detained following a raid conducted on Wednesday evening after police received information though its technical social media monitoring, information-sharing and information-portal mechanisms, they said.
Kalaburagi Police Commissioner Sharanappa S D told PTI that the man was found to be following multiple Instagram accounts allegedly engaged in anti-national and radical activities.
A case was registered at University police station here against him under sections 113(3) (terrorist act) and 197 (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and he was arrested for his alleged involvement in such social media activities, he said.
Later, addressing a press conference here, the Commissioner said Sameer was taken into custody and questioned following his suspicious activities on social media. It was confirmed that he was following certain anti-national social media accounts and was in contact with their handlers.
According to him, over the last few days, the accused was found to be in continuous contact with certain anti-national social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.
He was following these accounts and was allegedly engaging in activities that encouraged or promoted the content posted on them.
“There are some suspicious (social media) accounts that were posting anti-national content. In the case of some of these suspected accounts, we have reason to believe that their handlers may be Pakistani nationals.” “Against this background, we took him into custody, registered a case against him, and the investigation is now underway,” the officer said.
“He was following anti-social accounts and encouraging and promoting their activities,” he said.
The commissioner said that mobile phone of the accused has been seized and a detailed digital and forensic analysis will be done.
“Once that is completed, we will know whom else he was in contact with, whether he was forming any group, and whether he was involved in any other activities,” he added.
The officer clarified that initially, along with Sameer, another person was also taken into custody and questioned. However, since the other person was not found to have any suspicious activity, so no action was taken against him, he said.
Since the case concerns national security, the information has been shared with the concerned state and interstate agencies, police said, adding that further investigation is underway. PTI AMP SA
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