Man held on sedition charge for FB post over outages in C'garh

A 53-year-old man was arrested on the charges of sedition for allegedly spreading rumours over power cuts on a social media platform in Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh, police said.

The accused, identified as Mangelal Agarwal, was arrested Thursday evening under IPC sections 124 A (sedition) and 505 (1) (2), following a complaint filed by Chhattisgarh State Power Holding Company Limited (CSPHCL), a local police official said.

On June 12, the power company had lodged a complaint with City Kotwali police station in Rajnandgaon town that a video had gone viral on social media in which an unidentified man was deliberately spreading rumours and false information in a bid to tarnish the image of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.

In the video allegedly posted by Mangelal, a native of Musra village under Dongargarh police station area, on his Facebook account, he is heard saying, "The Bhupesh Baghel-led government and Madhya Pradesh government had allegedly colluded with inverter manufacturing companies to increase its sales by doing frequent power cuts in the respective states."