india

Updated: Sep 17, 2019 15:05 IST

A college student in Tripura has been arrested on charges of allegedly defaming Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and for hatching a conspiracy against him on social media, police said on Tuesday.

Bishal Sinha, 20, is a first-year student of Michael Madhusudhan Dutta Government Degree College in South Tripura district’s Sabroom. He was arrested on Monday evening near his home in Nabinpara in the same district, about 150 kilometres from Agartala.

According to deputy inspector general ( DIG) Arindam Nath, Sinha wrote ‘abusive words’ on WhatsApp against the chief minister and attempted to hatch a conspiracy against him.

“Sabroom Police have arrested him. During interrogation, Bishal denied the allegations saying that he lost his SIM card a few days ago,” said Nath.

“We got the information from a source and started an investigation. On the basis of the preliminary investigation, we arrested him and registered a case under Section 294/504/500/506/120 (B) of Indian Penal Code and 67 B of IT Act,” officer-in-charge of Sabroom police station M Das said over the phone.

“We will produce him before a court on Tuesday,” Das said declining to comment further on the case.

The charges against Sinha include those of obscene acts in public, provocation to commit crime, defamation, criminal intimidation, intentional insult to provoke breach of peace etc.

Three people, including a school teacher, personal guard of an MLA and a Facebook user, were arrested earlier this year for sharing fake news about Deb’s divorce with his wife Niti Deb.