A youth who allegedly hacked the Facebook account of a senior BJP leader and posted an anti-Islam image that led to riots was sentenced to three years in jail by a court in Khandwa on Wednesday. Nitesh Narendra Varma, who is in his 20s, was arrested after former chairman of Khandwa Municipal Corporation, Amar Yadav, lodged a complaint at Moghat police station on July 30, 2014, alleging that his Facebook account had been hacked by an unknown person. Additional district public prosecutor Vinod Patel told The Indian Express that the police took the help of a Delhi-based IT company, which proved that Yadav’s account had been hacked using a laptop that was found in the possession of Varma.

Varma, a resident of Bhagat Singh Chowk in Khandwa, was booked under Sections 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot) and 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to hurt religious feelings) of the IPC and sections of the Information Technology Act.

Patel said the accused was sentenced to three years in prison under Section 153, one year under Section 295-A and six months under the I-T Act by judicial magistrate first class Akbar Shaikh. Varma was also asked to pay a fine of Rs 2,100. He was later released on bail.

In his complaint, Yadav had said that his friend Dinesh Patel called up to inform him that photographs posted on his Facebook wall had the hurt sentiments of a community. One person was killed in the communally charged atmosphere, and curfew was imposed in the area for a few days after the incident.

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