Yahya Hallare
Daijiworld Media Network - Bhatkal
Updated
Bhatkal, May 25: Five youths from Bhatkal were on Saturday May 24 night reportedly detained by the Bangalore police for forwarding an anti-Narendra Modi MMS. Sources said that four of them were released on Sunday May 25 after several hours of questioning, while one, a member of Aam Aadmi Party, was arrested.
Waqas
BJP parliamentary leader Narendra Modi is set to take oath as the country's Prime Minister on Monday May 26.
The youths were reportedly rounded-up by Bangalore crime branch police who were dressed in plainclothes, said sources.
As per sources, the youths are identified as AAP member Waqas Barmavar, Rahmatulla Maliki, Usama Alangar, Musaib Saada, and Saad Kola. Among them, Musaib and Saad are said to be pursuing CA studies in Bangalore while the other three are students of MBA doing internship in Bangalore.
While four were released on Sunday after questioning, Waqas (25) was arrested and reportedly taken to Khanapur in Belgaum for further questioning, sources said.
It is said that the Waqas had received an anti-Modi MMS on WhatsApp, and he forwarded it to his friends. The message was also doing the rounds within the AAP's WhatsApp groups, it is said.
The Bangalore police, though, have not divulged any information about the detention. Reports however claimed that the MMS showed a morphed image of Modi on a 'funeral pyre', with the caption 'Ab ki baar, antim sanskaar', a pun on BJP's election slogan Ab ki baar Modi sarkar'.
It is said that the police took action after they got a complaint about the MMS from a BJP supporter who had received it.
Following the arrest, angry AAP activists said that it was a violation of freedom of speech and expression and that they would hold state-wide protests against the incident. The AAP unit in Bhatkal too has decided to hold protests till Waqas is released and the charges dropped.