A 49-year-old BJP worker was apprehended on Saturday by the Chitlapakkam police in Chennai for using social media to allegedly propagate ‘hate propaganda’.

Kalyanaraman Rangasamy was booked under Section 153 of the IPC (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and later taken in custody.

The case pertains to certain alleged ‘derogatory comments’ on Facebook that Rangasamy had made against members of another community in November 2015.

Chitlapakkam sub-inspector D Selvamani took note of the comments and alerted his seniors after which the BJP worker was arrested.

“I did a search on him in Facebook and found the derogatory comments, which I brought to the notice of my superiors, who asked me to be the complainant in the case,“ Selvamani told TOI.

Meanwhile, MMK leader M H Jawahirullah said that Rangasamy was arrested following his complaint to the police commissioner on December 30.

BJP leader Tamilisai Soundarajan, criticizing the arrest said, “It (the arrest) only reflects intolerance. On behalf of BJP, I request that Kalyanaraman be immediately released.“