G. Bala was arrested in Chennai and has been taken to Tirunelveli, sources said.

A Tirunelveli Police team on Sunday picked up G. Bala (36), a cartoonist, who was charged with defaming the Chief Minister, the Tirunelveli Collector and the City Commissioner of Police by representing them in an obscene way.

Sources said the cartoonist was detained by the team in Chennai and being brought to Tirunelveli.

Against a backdrop of self-immolation deaths of four in a family at Tirunelveli Collectorate on October 23 allegedly after being victimised by usurers, Mr. Bala was said to have created cartoons criticising the Chief Minister, the Tirunelveli Collector and the Tirunelveli City Commissioner of Police some days ago, posted them on his Facebook page and circulated them on various WhatsApp groups.

Collector Sandeep Nanduri told The Hindu that he lodged a complaint with the District Crime Branch a week ago in connection with such awfully bad representation of the Chief Minister and government officials by the cartoonist. “On his Facebook page, the cartoonist seemed to have boasted of his actions and I also received such cartoon image through WhatsApp about a week ago. Hence, I personally lodged the complaint with the police for action,” the Collector said.

Superintendent of Police, P. Arun Sakthi Kumar said based on the Collector’s complaint, a case under Sections 67 of IT Act and 501 of IPC was booked on November 1.