Man accused of sharing provocative content on social media arrested in Ludhiana

Launching a crackdown against social media content spreading disharmony and discord in the state, the cyber crime police station of Ludhiana police commissionerate has registered an FIR against a social media user, Arshdeep Singh Saini, and arrested him.

Swapan Sharma, Commissioner of Police, Ludhiana, stated here today that Arshdeep had been using his X handle @the_lama_singh to share posts that were provocative, communal in tone, potentially capable of spreading discord and disharmony in society and inflammatory. Arshdeep has been active on the social media platform X since February 2019 with a followers’ count of 13,000.

The Commissioner further stated that preliminary monitoring by the cyber crime police station revealed the objectionable, communal, provocative content targeting various religious groups, including Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims. Furthermore, the responses and the credentials of the followers indicate a planned and deliberate strategy to infuse hatred among various groups and communities in the state.

The accused had lived in the UK for long and returned to India in 2014. Now, the accused was working as an AI expert taking online classes of the subject. The cyber wing of Ludhiana police noticed several inflammatory posts of the accused.

Sharma said that the cyber crime police station of the Ludhiana police had registered an FIR under relevant sections of the BNS and the Information Technology (IT) Act, arrested the accused, obtained his police remand and initiated investigations.

The Commissioner stated that Ludhiana Police was investigating whether the online inflammatory posts were part of a plan to spread disharmony in Punjab at the behest of Pakistan’s ISI. Further investigations are going on.