YouTuber Maridhas was arrested in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai city on Thursday for a tweet on the helicopter crash in which Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 other officers were killed, The News Minute reported.
In the tweet, which has now been deleted, Maridhas had claimed that Tamil Nadu was “turning into another Kashmir under DMK [Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam] rule”, according to the website. He also claimed that it was possible “for any kind of plot to be hatched here [in Tamil Nadu].”
The YouTuber, in another tweet which is still available, accused DMK supporters of “mocking the death of an army commander in an accident”. “It is an undeniable fact that the DMK has been the best choice for separatist forces,” a translation of his tweet in Tamil said, according to The News Minute.
Maridhas has been booked under Sections 505(2) (statements which are alarming, false intention to create disharmony) and 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) of the Indian Penal Code, the Madurai Police told The News Minute.
An Indian Air Force Mi-17V5 helicopter carrying Rawat and the 13 others had crashed near Coonoor town in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris district on Wednesday. The chopper, which took off from the Sulur air base, was on its way to the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington.
The Indian Air Force has ordered an inquiry into the helicopter crash. The flight data recorder of the helicopter has been recovered.
On Thursday, the bodies of Rawat and other deceased persons were brought to the Palam airforce base in Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and the three service chiefs paid their respects to them.
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