Postcard News co-founder Mahesh Vikram Hegde was arrested on Thursday by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) on charges of spreading fake and communally-sensitive news.

“The accused has been produced in the Court and has been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days,’’ Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Jinendra Khanagavi told Newslaundry on Friday.

A case was registered against Hegde at the Cybercrime Police Station in Bengaluru under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act and under Sections 153A, 120B and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. The complaint against Hegde was filed by Gaffar Baig, an office-bearer of the Congress’ Bangalore district unit.

According to police, Hegde had tweeted on March 19, captioning a photo of Jain monk Upadhyaya Mayank Sagarji Maharaj, “Very Sad news Yesterday in Karnataka Jain Muni, Attacked By Muslim Youth.” The monk had actually been in a road accident. 

That tweet could not be traced and appeared to have been taken down.

The police said Hegde’s tweet was aimed at inciting religious conflict between two communities and to showcase Karnataka in a poor light in maintaining law and order. The Jain monk was on his way to Kanakagiri from Nanjangud, near Mysuru, on March 11 when the accident took place. A motorist had rammed into the monk and others near Kavalande village, leaving him with injuries on his right arm and forehead.

“The motorist was in an inebriated condition. The passersby took the injured monk and his followers to a nearby hospital for treatment,’’ police said.

BJP leaders were quick to condemn Hegde’s arrest and mobilise support for him on social media, so much so that by Friday morning, #ReleaseMaheshHegde was trending on Twitter India.

Mysuru BJP MP Pratap Simha (@mepratap) tweeted: “Today morning Coward Congress Govt (Karnataka) arrested @mvmeet Mahesh Vikram Hegde under unconnected IT act 66, that too by using CCB! Shame on you @INCKarnataka.”

BJP MLA from Chikmagalur, CT Ravi (@CTRavi_BJP) sent out a series of tweets seeking support for Hegde on Thursday. One of them read:

“CONgress leaders & its Ecosystem falsely declared that RSS & BJP were behind the murder of Journalist Gauri Lankesh.

Why isn’t anyone of them behind bars for making baseless allegations against us @siddaramaiah?

#ISupportMaheshHegde

#ReleaseMaheshHegde”

Speaking to Newslaundry, BJP state spokesperson S Prakash said the Siddaramaiah government deserves to be condemned for misusing the police. “Arresting a portal (sic) editor just a day after the model code of conduct comes into force is undemocratic.”

The arrested person has been spreading false and fake news for quite a long time, said Congress MLC Rizwan Arshad, condemning such “attempts to spread hatred among communities”.

“The agenda of the accused is to spread false news to create animosity between Hindus and Muslims. Recently, he had published a derogatory article on Kittur Rani Chennamma and Onake Obavva,” Arshad said, appreciating the CCB for “taking right action at the right time”.

He was referring to a first information report filed against the admins of Postcard News, Hegde and Vivek Shetty, last December.

“It is disconcerting to see sitting lawmakers give credence to elements who have been caught red-handed spreading rumours and false news,” AltNews had said while reporting the incident.

Postcard News has been known to circulate false reports that are mandatorily forwarded on WhatsApp groups. One of their year-ender articles in 2017 “explained” how the prime minister had given to the people more than he had promised. The headline, far from truth, was anything but misleading: ‘Finally, PM Modi has deposited Rs 15 lakh in each and every Indian’s account’.

The author is a Bangalore-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.