Man held for online comments supporting Kanpur ambush, objectionable posts on CM Yogi

A man has been arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Chandauli district for allegedly supporting the Kanpur ambush, in which eight policemen were killed, and making objectionable remarks on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, police said on Thursday.

The alleged comments were made on Tuesday by Prashant Pandey, aged around 25, on Facebook and he was arrested by the local police in Sakaldiha area on Wednesday from his home, they said.

“The accused had made objectionable remarks on the chief minister and made comments in support of the heart-wrenching incident in Kanpur. The screenshots of those posts and comments and profile details were taken by the Cyber Cell and action taken against him,” the Chandauli police said in a statement.

“The accused was arrested from his home in Vijora around 7 pm on Wednesday,” it added.

Pandey has been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), the police said.

Charges under the Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material on internet) of the Information Technology Act have also been pressed against the accused, it added.

Eight policemen, including a deputy superintendent, were killed in an ambush by henchmen of gangster Vikas Dubey on the intervening night of July 2 and 3 in Chaubeypur area in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Dubey was arrested on Thursday in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district after a six-day manhunt while some of his key aides have been either killed or nabbed in encounters with the UP police.