The Chennai Crime Branch police arrested two people in Tamil Nadu on Monday for allegedly spreading rumours on social media about Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s health.

 A case of spreading rumour with intent to cause riots has been registered against them.

Satish Kumar, a software engineer, working at a private company was arrested by the police for creating and sharing a Facebook post regarding Jayalalithaa’s health. He hails from Namakkal district and has completed a MCA degree.

On October 4, Ramachandran and Govindraj from AIADMK filed a complaint against Satish Kumar for his Facebook post. After tracking his account, the police then traced him.

Police also arrested another man, Madasamy for uploading a fake audio recording of an Apollo Hospital staff speaking about Jayalalithaa’s health onto his website. He studied ITI AC mechanics and was working in Madurai. 

Police claimed that he has admitted to running the website and uploading the fake audio clip.

The complaint against Madasamy was made by two people, Rajkamal and Rajsekar.

In total, 43 cases have been registered against people for spreading rumours on social media. A press release states that the police is investigating the cases and the culprits will be punished.

The police also appealed to the public to not share any rumours about Jayalalithaa’s health on social media and warned that it could lead to an imprisonment of up to seven years.