A 24-year-old man was on Tuesday arrested in Malappuram district for allegedly making unsavoury remarks on social media against Lt Colonel E K Niranjan, who was killed while defusing a grenade during the terror attack at Pathankot IAF base.

The man, identified as Anwar Sadhik, was arrested under IPC 124 (A) (sedition).

Police said Sadhik, posing himself as a journalist attached to a regional daily, allegedly made derogatory remarks against Niranjan and his family in his Facebook post. "Anwar Sadhik has commented in the Malayalam language on the post. He has written, "So, another troublemaker is also gone. Now, the government will pay and give a job to his wife and we commoners get nothing. Such a stinking Indian democracy, (sic)," he said in the post.

He was arrested based on a complaint by the management of the regional daily, whose name he used in the post.

A casual labourer at a local shop was arrested from his house at Chemmankadavu in Malappuram district in the wee hours today, police said.