An FIR has been registered against 15 men of which six are still at large.
Tamil Nadu News: Nine men were arrested by the Porayar police, Nagapattinam district on Tuesday for circulating an audio recording with offensive comments in relation to the recent Ponparappi violence.
According to police, 15 men, all belonging to Scheduled Castes, were booked based on a complaint given by Suresh Kumar, a local PMK functionary in Aiveli, Tharangambadi, Nagapattinam district. “The accused made an audio recording with derogatory and inflammatory comments against the Vanniyars in the context of the Ponparappi violence. The audio has been circulated since Sunday,” a police officer in the station told TNM. Of the 15 accused, nine have been arrested and the search is on to trace the remaining six men, he added.
Those arrested have been identified as Prem Kumar (27) from Porayar, Prem Kumar (28) and Felix Bharathi (22) from Maangudi, Gauthaman (23), John Bose (21), Johnson (20), Anandhababu (20) and Veerapandian (20) from Boodanur, and Mathivanan (23) from Aathupakkam. The other accused in the case are Pandian, Kalaivanan and Vinoth from Boodanur, Silambarasan from Peruveli and Kumar and Nelson from Maangudi near Tharangambadi.
The police have registered an FIR against these men under sections 153(A) [Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony], 502 [Sale of printed or engraved substance containing defamatory matter], 504 [Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace], 505 (1)(p) [Whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report conducing to public mischief], 505 (2) [Statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes] and 507 [Criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication] of the IPC and section 67 [Punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form]of the Information Technology Act.